A Prophecy Fulfilled
by Hobbit-eyes
Summary: The end of the Matrix is coming. Neo, Trinity, Morpheus, Asha and Falcon still try desperately to find out a way to free everyone in the Matrix before this happens, but the return of an old enemy brings danger to the crew – as if they didn’t have enou
1. Agents

It's here! The final part of the trilogy! For people who haven't read the first two – if you want to, that's great, but I think that this one is much better than those two. But of course, that's just my opinion, but please, don't judge this fic by those two.  
  
And for those who did read the first two – as I said, I think that this one's the best. Thanks to all those who've been here since the first chapter of the first story! We've come a long way, but this is the end story. And I hope it lives up to your expectations! So, enjoy!  
  
And, despite all my efforts, I still don't own the Matrix or any of the characters, consarnit. But characters like Asha, Falcon and David I can claim to be my own creation. Yay!  
  
Chapter 1 - Agents  
  
A little girl looked up and down a street. It was reasonably crowded, especially to an eight-year-old. She was searching for her mum – it was a busy market day, and they'd got separated.  
  
It all seemed so vivid to the little girl. The bright colours, the sounds, the smells from the fish stall. But something caught her eye, and walked over to examine it more closely. A man, wearing dark clothes, running along the road. He was bald, and had dark skin. He looked up and saw the girl standing there, staring at him. He had stared back from behind a pair of black sunglasses.  
  
Suddenly she felt something growing from the depths of her mind. Fear gripped her as she felt it spread through her, getting larger and stronger. She had no idea what it was, but even her young mind could tell that whatever it was was bad, and she started crying out for her mum. She looked back to the man, who looked at her in horror, and turned to run down the street. She was about to call after him but suddenly she had the feeling of being dragged away somewhere dark; the thing was growing inside her, there was no room for her-  
  
She opened her eyes again. The strange feeling was gone. But she had no idea where she was. She was all alone in a dark alleyway, with no recollection of how she'd got there. She did what most eight-year-olds would do in that situation. She began to cry.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Asha woke up. She didn't know why she'd suddenly remembered all of that now. She suddenly remembered it – her young mind had blocked it out of her memory, and now it had resurfaced. She'd been eight years old, when she saw that man running away from her. Then she'd ended up in that alley.  
  
Why was she remembering this now? What could have prompted this memory to come to light? When she was young, the whole experience had been terrifying. She'd cried until her mother came to the police station to find her, and long after that had woken up in the night. Then the memory had just been erased. Now it had resurfaced.  
  
She guessed now what had happened. That man was Morpheus – slightly younger, yes, but recognizably Morpheus. And she guessed that she'd been taken over by an agent, then abandoned again to get closer to Morpheus. She'd never really thought about how it felt for those people. She shivered. She'd been a vessel for an agent.  
  
Knowing that she wouldn't get to sleep now, she walked out to the main deck. Morpheus was on duty, and searching for any clues as to how to get into the Matrix mainframe at the same time, as they'd been doing ever since Asha escaped from Agent Smith to bring the information. She remembered how she'd thought that she wouldn't get out of that one, yet she had. Someone was watching over her, and no mistake.  
  
Morpheus looked up when he heard her coming. Asha smiled slightly, but she didn't as much as she used to. She'd been through too much in the past two months to be quite as light-hearted as she'd been before.  
  
"Any luck?" she asked.  
  
Morpheus shook his head. "The problem is, we don't even know where to start. Even if anyone has ever stumbled across the Matrix mainframe, they haven't come back to tell us about it."  
  
Asha stared at the screen where the green code continued to fall, not changing in pattern any way, not showing that soon it would stop. They didn't even know how soon it would be. But they knew it was happening, and they knew they had to do something. The bad thing was that this was all they knew.  
  
"I'll take over," said Asha, "I'm not going to get any more sleep tonight, and we have a busy day tomorrow."  
  
Morpheus looked like he was going to argue, but a yawn blocked off any protests that he was fine. He nodded at Asha, and headed towards his room. Asha settled down in the chair, wishing there was something they could do. They couldn't be defeated already, they had to find something, anything that could help them...  
  
A small flash on the screen made her sit up. The Matrix had changed something, and for once she wasn't the one in danger. She zoomed in on what was happening. She could see the crew of another ship trying to escape from agents. She quickly typed in a signal to see whose ship was at Broadcast depth.  
  
It was the Aeneas. She'd only met the crew a couple of times in Zion, most recently about a week ago when they'd travelled there to warn them about the chance of the Matrix being shut down. Since then, all the ships had been on duty, looking for any information as to how to get to the Matrix mainframe.  
  
She glanced at where Morpheus had just gone to his room, and back at the screen. It would only take a second, and there wasn't any sign of Agent Smith...  
  
She saw one of the crew fall under gunfire. That made up her mind. She couldn't load herself in, she'd have to go in her own way. She quickly scribbled a note in case anyone woke up and closed her eyes.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Phoenix, the captain of the Aeneas, looked back. He swore as he saw Gamma get hit with a bullet, stumble, and not get up again. He saw the rest of his crew freeze. "Keep going!" he ordered. Time to feel sad when they were out of this. Two agents, right behind them, were most captains' nightmare.  
  
They kept running, running faster than it was possible for anyone still in the Matrix could run, but the agents kept up easily. Morpheus had been in this sort of mess before, several years ago, and they'd escaped with only one fatality – but that was by Morpheus sacrificing himself to give the others time to escape. He glanced back at the agents, who were gaining on them all the time. That was their only option, and he was the captain, he had to look after his crew.  
  
"Etain," he said to the woman running at his side, "Take over. Get everyone to an exit."  
  
"What?" said Etain, "What are you going to do?"  
  
"Just get everyone out of here." He stopped running and started to run back towards the agents. Etain watched in horror as she realised what he was going to do. She was about to run after him, when she realised that this really was the only option.  
  
"Come on!" she called to the rest of the crew, who were all also looking at Phoenix heading back in bewilderment. Phoenix himself was leaping into the air, aiming his feet at the agents for maximum impact. It didn't work quite as well as he'd hoped, considering they knocked him off course, and he went rolling along the road. He lifted his head slightly and saw that Etain and the others were safely around the corner. It wasn't far to an exit, they'd make it. Now he had himself to worry about.  
  
The agents seemed to be discussing him quickly.  
  
"He is a captain. He will know the codes to the Zion mainframe."  
  
"You're not getting them!" called Phoenix, but the agents acted as if he wasn't there.  
  
"We no longer need those."  
  
"But they would be an asset."  
  
"It is too much effort."  
  
"Then we should terminate him immediately." That agent raised a gun. Phoenix forced himself not to close his eyes, he would die bravely.  
  
The shot never came. A girl came sweeping out of nowhere and kicked the gun out of the agent's hands. The other agent, obviously surprised, quickly pulled out his own, but before he could even get a proper grip on it it suddenly flew out of his hands into her own. Rapidly she fired at the both of them, but they both dodged the bullets. Undeterred, she threw the gun away and leapt forward, fighting them both almost effortlessly. For a moment in the battle she turned to look at Phoenix, who suddenly realized that he was still sitting on the pavement. "Run!" she shouted.  
  
Phoenix got to his feet, but didn't run. He waited until the girl had one of the agents held; then he pulled out his own gun and fired. The agent vanished in a flash of light, leaving what seemed to be, to his surprise, the body of a teenage boy behind. The girl was still holding onto the body, and dropped it rapidly, a look of shock and horror on her face. She stood staring at it with the same unchanging expression.  
  
"Look out!" shouted Phoenix. An agent was still behind her. The dismay on the girl's face vanished in an instant, and she spun round, a gun seemingly appearing from nowhere in her hand; she fired once, and in another flash of light, the agent had gone, this time leaving behind an old woman. Again, the girl stared at the body. Phoenix got to his feet and walked over to her.  
  
"Are you alright?"  
  
"I'm fine," said the girl, now turning to look at the teenage boy, an expression that looked almost like regret on her face.  
  
"Who are you?" he asked.  
  
"You never think about it, do you?" she said, looking at the teenage boy's face, "You never think about the people the agents are in. This boy... he looked just like someone I knew." To his surprise, the corners of her eyes were glistening slightly.  
  
"Are you Asha?" asked Phoenix, suddenly recognizing her.  
  
"Yes," she said, turning to face him and brushing her eyes as she did so, "And you're Phoenix, the captain of the Aeneas."  
  
"What are you doing here?"  
  
"I saw you in trouble on the monitors, and came to help."  
  
"Did anyone else come?"  
  
"No, they don't know I've come. In fact, I should be getting back-" She glanced back at the boy and the woman's body. "What do they do with these?"  
  
"The agents come and remove them," he said, "They remove all evidence of them from the system, as if they never existed."  
  
Asha shivered slightly. She shook her head as if to clear it. "Can you get to an exit OK?"  
  
"What? Yes, it's not far. What about you?"  
  
"I go my own way," she said with a smile, "You owe me one, right?"  
  
"Deal," said Phoenix, still feeling slightly confused. Asha shot him a brief grin and vanished. Phoenix shook his head and headed towards the phone box.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Asha reappeared on the Nebuchadnezzar. She immediately checked to see whether anyone had woken up. She was quite surprised to find Falcon sitting on the floor next to the control chair.  
  
"No 'Dodge this'?" said Falcon, an eyebrow raised. Asha smiled.  
  
"Do you have any idea how cheesy that would be?" As she spoke she suddenly felt tired and leant back in the chair, closing her eyes for a second.  
  
"Are you OK?" she heard Falcon say.  
  
"Fine," said Asha, opening her eyes again and putting her tiredness down to the excitement of the fight, "What are you doing awake?"  
  
Falcon shrugged. "Heard you getting up, and thought I'd come and say hi. By the time I'd been bothered to get up, you'd just gone... just been watching you on the monitors." Through Asha's teaching, Falcon had finally been able to see through the code to a certain extent, and could get the gist of what was happening in the monitors.  
  
"Well, nice to have company." Asha obligingly moved over on the chair so that there was room for Falcon to fit on there as well. It was a reasonably large chair, and there was room for a fully-grown adult to sit on there comfortably, and just enough room for two teenagers who'd only been eating a synthetic protein combined with artificial stuff for a month.  
  
"So do you think we're going to succeed?" said Falcon.  
  
"I don't know," said Asha, "I mean, as Morpheus said, if anyone has ever got into the Matrix mainframe, then we haven't heard about it..."  
  
"Can't David tell you anything else?"  
  
Asha shook her head. "He doesn't know how we can get there either. And if he did, Agent Smith will be keeping a close eye on him now, after he helped save me that last time... and the time before..."  
  
"Sounds like he likes you," said Falcon, smiling slightly. Asha turned to look at him.  
  
"He doesn't," she said, "I mean, he's joined the machines. He's on their side, he's evil. No, he's just talking to us because we can do something he wants. That's all."  
  
"I guess," said Falcon, "So do we have any leads on this?"  
  
"None," sighed Asha, "And we don't even know when it's beginning. All Agent Smith said was that it was starting soon, and David said that the plans had been brought forward... that's why it's so terrible, I mean, it could start tomorrow and there's nothing we could do about it..."  
  
"I'm sure it won't," said Falcon, "I mean, what kind of movie would that make?"  
  
***  
  
So, we're back in action. Reviews are greatly appreciated, especially constructive criticism. But nothing along the lines of a flame I got for the first story, 'in all honesty, this is bullshit. pure and simple. IT IS RUBBISH. ya happy? you can delete it now.' I'm ready to accept that this story is bad, if that's what you think, but be slightly nicer than that, and tell me if there's anything I can do to improve it.  
  
See you all soon! Till then, keep smiling! 


	2. Unplugging

Hi everyone! Thanks for the great response I've had for the first chapter! I'm probably dressing as someone from the Matrix tomorrow to go to the cinema with my friends for my birthday (16!! Yay!). And that's my little Matrix comment for the day. There. Wasn't that nice? Also we learnt stage fighting at my drama club today – I know kung-fu... or, rather I know how to pull someone's hair and slap them without actually hurting them... not as fun...  
  
Chapter 2 - Unplugging  
  
The next morning Tank loaded everyone into the Matrix. It was very rare for everyone to go at once since they learnt that there was a program created for the sole purpose of killing them all – it seemed almost too easy for them all to be together at once. But there was a captain's meeting that day, and Morpheus had asked for the whole crew to attend.  
  
As they entered the room (fashionably late, as Morpheus usually was, but always unintentionally of course) Asha saw a few familiar faces. She saw Niobe, who she didn't know very well, and she saw the crew of the Aeneas. Phoenix gave her a small appreciative smile, which she returned, but hoped that he wouldn't mention her little 'intervention' the night before.  
  
"We don't have much time," said Morpheus, "Since we're uncertain that our other plan will succeed, I'd advise on our proceeding to the emergency plan."  
  
"The emergency plan?" said one of the other captains, "Isn't that only for the utmost critical circumstances?"  
  
"Well, I'd say this one was critical," said Morpheus.  
  
"We're not even sure that there is a situation," argued another captain.  
  
"What's the emergency plan?" whispered Asha to Neo.  
  
"A group unplugging," said Neo quietly.  
  
"A group-"  
  
"We're going to get as many out as possible," said Niobe, "We'll divide into pairs. Each pair will be issued with a list of names of people to bring here. These names have been selected at random from lists of people who are sixteen to twenty-five years old." Though Trinity continued to look straight ahead, Asha suddenly felt a rush of emotion inside her. She remembered that Trinity's sister would be twenty-seven now – that ruled her out. "We meet back here at 1800 hours. Hopefully everything will go according to plan. Our ships are standing by near the power plants to pick up the people we wake up. Everyone clear?"  
  
"May I make a suggestion?" said Neo. Everyone turned to look at him. "Since recent attempts on crewmembers' lives, and the discovery that there is a program that can change shape, I recommend that every time one of us phones another, a key phrase be said first."  
  
"That's a good idea," said another captain, "What should they say?"  
  
"Hi, it's Calypso," said Asha. All the captains turned to look at her. "What? It's the least likely thing she'd say. Or communistic choco cheese, no-one else I know says that..."  
  
There was some discussion, but it was agreed that "Hi, it's Calypso," was what the captains would say.  
  
"I'm not sure the whole 'red pill blue pill' thing is going to be quite as impressive with a time limit," said Falcon as the captains fell to talking amongst themselves.  
  
"How many will we unplug altogether?" said Asha.  
  
"There are about eighty people in this room," said Trinity, "That's forty pairs. Each list is about ten people long. That's 400 people in one day."  
  
"400!" said Asha in surprise, "That's... a lot."  
  
"Not enough," said Neo dispiritedly, "Considering the millions of people there are in the Matrix."  
  
"It makes enough of a difference to be worthwhile," said Morpheus firmly.  
  
Asha glanced at her sheet. They had all been paired up with a crewmember from another ship, so that should they be attacked no crew would be seriously short of members. Asha often wondered why the Nebuchadnezzar had so small a crew, compared to other ships who seemed to have about seven or eight. She now realised that it was because they were often so busy doing other things to unplug people.  
  
She herself had been paired up with a member of the crew of the Aeneas. Etain. "Hi," said Asha, slightly nervously. Etain was a young woman, about mid-twenties, Asha would guess, with red hair that just reached her shoulders. "I like your name, by the way."  
  
"It's from Irish legend," said Etain, "She was a girl who discovered that she was in fact from the Otherworld, and was taken back there by the man she loved." Etain laughed slightly. "It seems very fitting now. And you're- "  
  
"Asha," said Asha, "It means hope."  
  
"Of course," said Etain, "What else?"  
  
She and Etain walked out of the room, Asha promising Morpheus that she wouldn't go running off into any dark alleys or go chasing agents. They had to go to an exit, then meet up again after being reloaded into the Matrix, as their area for unplugging was Ireland. "My home country," Etain had said happily, "As you may guess from the name."  
  
"Well, my grandmother was from Greece," said Asha, "But I can't speak Greek, so it's good we're not unplugging anyone from there."  
  
"No, Phoenix is going there," said Etain, "He's part Greek as well. As you may guess from the name. We both chose our names to fit with our heritage. See you in a minute." They had reached the phone box.  
  
Five minutes later, Etain and Asha were walking down a street in Dublin. Morpheus had suggested that they wear ordinary clothes, as agents would be on doubled alert now that they knew that they knew what was going on. Asha hadn't realized how much she'd missed wearing jeans, but when she'd had the chance to wear any outfit in the world she'd wanted, she'd had a lot of fun.  
  
"Here's our first stop," said Etain, glancing at the sheet of paper to check the address. They had reached a tall apartment building in the back streets of the city. "Apartment 9. We're not bothering with the computer contact, we're just going straight in, saying that we have information for them. Got it?"  
  
"Isn't this going to be a bit shocking for them?"  
  
"Nothing we can do about that, except make it as easy as possible. We may need a demonstration to make them believe it. You ready?"  
  
Asha nodded. Etain pressed the intercom. It buzzed loudly. Finally a voice crackled through the speakers. "What?"  
  
"Hello, is that Mr Williams?" asked Etain.  
  
"Yes," came back the voice, sounding slightly wary.  
  
"We have some information for you."  
  
"Write a letter." The voice clicked off. Asha looked at Etain, who frowned and pressed the button again.  
  
"What?" came the voice.  
  
"Mr Williams, I don't think you're listening to us. We have some information for you."  
  
"And I don't think you're listening to me. Piss off." Again, the voice clicked off. Asha glared at the metal speaker, and pressed the button for his apartment repeatedly. At first nothing happened, but after a couple of minutes the man's voice came through again. "Go away, or I'll call the police!"  
  
"You listen here, Mr Williams!" said Asha angrily, "We have come a long way, and we are not leaving until you let us in. We're perfectly capable of breaking down this door, but we'd rather not bring the police and have to inform them about how a Mr Williams wouldn't let us in. Or should we call you Odin?"  
  
There was a silence. For a second Asha thought that he'd turned off the intercom in spite of Asha's very apparent wrath. But then the door buzzed open, and Asha quickly leapt through it should he change his mind.  
  
"People certainly like naming themselves after legends, don't they?" said Etain.  
  
"The all-seeing all-knowing head of the Norse gods," mused Asha, "Well, this guy certainly has an opinion of himself."  
  
Etain and Asha walked along the corridor towards Odin's room. They paused outside. "Anything?" said Etain.  
  
Asha closed her eyes. "He's got a gun out," she said, "Well, if he expects that to work... I'll go first. You stay round the corner of the door. Just in case he takes a shot at you. No offence, but I'm better at dodging bullets."  
  
Etain didn't argue, but stepped out of sight. Asha took a deep breath, and kicked the door open.  
  
As she expected, she heard a gun shot, and instantly threw herself backwards, leaning back as far as she could go. The bullet whizzed over her head into the wall across the corridor. She heard another bullet being fired. "This guy just doesn't learn," she thought, and sprang into the air. This time the bullet went under her legs, and she was able to propel herself into the room towards the young man. As she sailed forwards, she spun round so that her heels hit his shoulders, and he flew back across the room. He collided with a bookcase and slid to the floor.  
  
"There," she said, straightening her jacket, "Will you listen now?" As she spoke, she picked up the gun with her mind and bent it in two, tossing it out the window. Etain entered as well, and stood next to Asha.  
  
I hate the way the little star-seperatey thing for the end of chapters doesn't show up any more. Gargh. Ah well. Onto callouts.  
  
Tanuki Yasha – Thanks! I was worried about the fight scene. I could picture it in my head, but I can't really write them that well.  
  
Unsigjewne – Thanks for the advice. I'll try and get better; luckily there aren't any fight scenes for a short while, so I can work on any future ones to make them more detailed.  
  
Jedi from Rohan – The other stuff isn't as good. But it might make you understand this one a bit more...  
  
Theshiz - ... slightly hyper? What are you like when you're REALLY hyper? Do I even want to know?  
  
Hogwarts-Drama-Queen – Aw, thanks! I hope it's the best. It's much better than the first one, anyway... the first one was really bad, in my opinion... ever so slightly Mary-Sueish... (shudder)  
  
Im a Brandybuck – It's so sweet that you came back to review again! I hope things are going better now.  
  
Agent Tommy – Aw, thanks! Everyone's so sweet... I want to hug everyone... starting with YOU! (rugby tackles)  
  
T'Lorie – You like agents, don't you? Actually, I don't mind flamers, I think they're funny, but I prefer constructive criticism.  
  
Shadow-Spider – Eeek! OK!  
  
Sirocco.flow – I need to cut enough time out of revising for GCSEs to write them... I should be revising now... my RS exam is in three days...  
  
Ohiwishihadaname – Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying it so much! I will continue, since you said oretty please... hardly anyone says oretty please...  
  
Orangebananas – I will never talk! Never! You'll just have to wait and see! You never know, she might get together with... uh... Tank? Maybe not... It's interesting that you think I'm better at serious fics, most people say I'm better at humour. Hmmm. Well, at least that means I'm good at both.  
  
So, I'll see y'all soon! I might have finished my GCSEs by then... I might not have. Probably not, thinking about it. But have fun till then! 


	3. Meetings

Hi, thanks everyone who reviewed! Without further ado (about nothing – haha, love that Shakespeare play – uh-oh, am causing ado) onto the next chapter!  
  
Chapter 3 - Meetings  
  
"We were expecting a more polite welcome," said Etain, looking around, "You could have at least tidied up."  
  
The man looked up at them both. He looked like he was in his early twenties. He was wearing what looked like a charity shop ensemble, with a couple of stains on the shirt. Asha wrinkled her nose slightly. "Who are you?" he asked.  
  
"Who are you?" said Asha, "I presume I am speaking to Odin, the man who hacked into the KGB top secret files, and has been hiding out here ever since? Don't look proud," she said, seeing him smirk slightly at hearing that his reputation preceded him, "I know an eighteen-year-old who did the same thing, and he's not being tailed by the secret police."  
  
"Yeah, right," said Odin.  
  
"You don't believe us?" said Etain, "Then will you believe that I'm Etain?"  
  
Odin blinked. "The Etain?"  
  
"Yes, the Etain. The one who hacked into various global corporations and transferred millions from their accounts, then gave it all to Amnesty International. Or did you believe that I was too virtuous to be true?"  
  
"Or a guy?" said Asha. Odin looked slightly sheepish.  
  
"Anyway," said Etain, looking as though she was trying not to laugh, "As we were saying before you tried to shoot my friend here, we have information for you. Do you want it or not?"  
  
Odin looked from one to the other. He got to his feet, causing Asha to tense ready to spring should she need to, but he simply walked over to his computer chair and sat down again. "What kind of information?"  
  
"Information that you want," said Etain, "Or you think you want."  
  
"Some think they want it but then discover they wish they had never wanted it," said Asha.  
  
"What on earth are you talking about?"  
  
"The Matrix," said Etain. Odin started. "You see? Even the name has an affect on you."  
  
"It does on everyone who, in the smallest corner of their brain, knows that there's more to the world than what we see," said Asha, "And that small corner eventually grows, and grows, until your entire brain is filled with it, and you can no longer distinguish what is real. You know what I'm talking about, don't you?"  
  
Odin didn't answer. He didn't need to. Asha could see it all over his face.  
  
"Then," said Etain, "You'll know what'll happen when we give you this." She held out a hand. On it was a single red pill. Odin stared at it as if it were the answer to all his questions. He stared at it for a few seconds and was silent. Finally he looked back to Etain and Asha.  
  
"It's real, isn't it?"  
  
"It's real," said Asha, "Or as real as anything can be."  
  
"Then if I take it- if I-"  
  
"Then everything will be real," said Etain. Odin looked at it for a few more seconds, then took the pill. Asha took off her backpack and pulled out a complicated piece of technology. It was a mobile locating unit. They'd only recently been developed, so not even the agents knew about it Asha and Etain quickly hooked him up to it, and dialled Tank's number.  
  
A couple of minutes later, Odin's body vanished before their eyes. Asha and Etain looked at the space where he'd just been. "Done," said Asha, glancing at her watch, "Only took about forty five minutes. At this rate we'll be done in a few hours."  
  
"That's optimistic," said Etain, "Didn't you watch the Matrix before you were unplugged?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
"Well, then you'd have learnt that what can go wrong most likely will."  
  
Asha quickly looked out the window. "Well, no agents yet, maybe we'll get a couple more people done before they all appear and kill us all in a highly dramatic manner."  
  
Neo wasn't unplugging people. He had agreed with Morpheus before that he would make a trip to New York. They'd received a message from the Oracle a couple of days before, and Morpheus didn't think that the whole crew should go when Neo could go quite well by himself.  
  
He walked to the Oracle's apartment building by back ways; the impending release of the Matrix: Revolutions would mean he would be even more conspicuous on the streets of America. It only took some teenage fangirls to phone one of their friends excitedly telling them that they'd seen Neo for the agents to find out where he was. Finally he reached the building and slipped through the front doors. Once inside, he hurried up to the Oracle's apartment.  
  
He was shown straight into the kitchen. The Oracle looked up as he entered. "My, Neo," she said, "I do believe you've grown." Neo didn't say anything – he knew that she'd sent him the message for a reason, but she'd get round to it in her own time. The Oracle smiled at him. "So, will you sit this time? Or won't you?"  
  
Neo actually found it slightly unnerving that she already knew what he was going to do. Finally he decided to sit down at the kitchen table next to her. "You're learning," said the Oracle warmly.  
  
"Why didn't you tell us about the Matrix being shut down?" asked Neo shrewdly.  
  
"Why should I? You would figure it out anyway," said the Oracle, "And the way you found out was better. You'll see."  
  
Neo didn't say anything. "Now, I know what you're thinking," said the Oracle, "Why's she actually called me here?"  
  
Neo smiled as well. "Well, one main reason really," continued the Oracle, "You may not know it, but Asha went into the Matrix last night."  
  
"She did?" said Neo in amazement.  
  
"Yes. She saw some people in trouble, and she went to help them." Neo shook his head in despair – he knew that she rarely thought things through before she went to help people, relying mainly on luck. He would have to mention it to Morpheus.  
  
"Neo," said the Oracle seriously, "You're going to need to be more careful about things like that. She's more important than you know."  
  
Neo stared at her. "Why?"  
  
Asha had no idea that her fate was being discussed across the Atlantic Ocean. The rest of the day went very similarly for her and Etain. They would go to apartment buildings, usually in the back streets of the cities, and pretty much use the same speech they had with Odin. Some believed them straight away, others required a kung-fu demonstration from Asha. Some had never even seen the Matrix. These people had taken a lot of explaining.  
  
"Last one," said Etain tiredly, glancing back at the sheet of paper. She was driving them through the streets of Dublin, as Asha phoned Tank to check that he'd picked up the last one they'd sent back to the Real World, "We need to be careful, the agents will have noticed that people are waking up all over the place."  
  
"Wouldn't that worry them?" said Asha, "Make them put on extra security at the power plants?"  
  
Etain shrugged. "Well, we haven't had any trouble yet. Maybe they don't see it as a major problem any more or something."  
  
"Maybe," said Asha, still feeling uneasy. This was all going too well. She was just waiting for something to go wrong. 'Shut up,' she ordered herself silently, 'It's time we had a lucky break.'  
  
Something had been playing on her mind. Whether awake or asleep, Jon was never far from her thoughts. If Jon hadn't died, then she would certainly be wanting to unplug him; but, luckily it may seem, she didn't have to face that dilemma. But that still left his sister. Kathryn. Asha knew her pretty well, having spent a reasonable amount of her childhood at his house. It didn't seem fair to take her brother from her, and then leave her in the Matrix; at least she would have a chance to explain what had happened.  
  
"Hey, Etain," she said, making up her mind suddenly as they drew up outside the apartment building. "Can I ask a favour?"  
  
"Course," said Etain.  
  
"When this one is done, can you leave me outside, drive around for about half an hour, then come back and pick me up?"  
  
Etain probably had never looked so curious. "Why on earth do you want me to do that?"  
  
"There's just something I have to do."  
  
Falcon was waiting outside an apartment building. He had been paired with a captain from another ship, who seemed to believe that Falcon was incompetent. So Falcon was made to keep watch. Not that it would make all that much difference if agents came.  
  
He looked up and down the street. There had been no scandal about how he'd vanished – not that he'd been expecting any, his parents wouldn't miss him. They'd probably only notice that he'd gone when the pizza place realized they hadn't had any orders from his apartment for a while.  
  
Suddenly he heard rapid footsteps behind him. Before he could turn round, he felt a hand go over his eyes.  
  
"Guess who?" came a taunting voice.  
  
Falcon had no idea, but the voice sounded female. "Asha?" he said.  
  
He felt a gun rest on his back between his shoulder blades and tensed.  
  
"You wish."

-  
  
And we're back to cliffies! Gee, how much you must have missed them. The next chapter will be up as soon as I can get it, but I haven't exactly finished writing it yet – I have a bit of a plot decision to make, which affects the rest of the story. Hahahaha, as if the cliffie wasn't enough.  
  
Im a Brandybuck – Whoa, you really ARE hyper. Good for you! (applauds) And I'll try to update as often as I can now, since you seem so, um, hyper to know what happens next...  
  
TBI – Of course Smithy's in this story!! How can you have a Matrix story without Smith? He rocks! Did you notice that I'd updated the Secret Diary of Agent Smith?  
  
Jack Cole – Ummm... well, you're close... And I know how you feel about finals, I've just got through them too...  
  
Ohiwishihadaname – It's about time you got a name. What about oretty, since you seem to like it so much?  
  
Theshiz - ... uh-oh... How readily available is your medication? And, more importantly, caffeine? I love Irish legends (being a quarter Irish) so any excuse to fit Ireland into the story...  
  
Calliope-Elven-Agent – I know someone called David too, and he couldn't be more unlike this David. This David, at a party, would probably stand alone in the corner. The David I know, from my experience, would come dressed as a fairy and spend half the evening chasing my friends around the hall because they'd stolen his wand. And I'm sorry to say that Apoc isn't alive, because the first movie did actually happen. Sorry, I liked Apoc too.  
  
Sirocco.flow – Well, that's good, since I do German, not French... but I can roughly translate what you said... thanks!  
  
AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR SPONSORS... aka ME...  
  
First of all, I've started writing a Pokemon story in conjunction with Bulma Greenleaf – check our joint account, under the name Wob-Wobs United, to read it. Of course, if you don't like Pokemon, don't bother...  
  
Second of all, I've started a message board for the Official Fanfiction University of Troy, coming soon, so please go and check that out! The link is on my bio!  
  
Third of all, all of the stories in this massive update of mine were dedicated to everyone in the world who have been taking exams recently. Congratulations! You made it through them! Now RELAX! That is an order, dagnabbit! An order from the Wob-Wobs, no less!


	4. Kathryn

Hi everyone, I'm back from holiday! A very nice e-mail from EriEka127 encouraged me to update this early, so any thanks should go to her.  
  
This chapter's a little different from most of the others. I hope you all like it.  
  
Chapter 4 - Kathryn  
  
As Etain drove away, after warning that if Asha wasn't back there when she returned in exactly 30 minutes she wouldn't hesitate to phone Morpheus, Asha closed her eyes. She'd done this before; all she had to do was return to the Nebuchadnezzar, then immediately go back into the Matrix at a different spot. It took almost no time at all.  
  
Waking up back on the Nebuchadnezzar, she glanced over at Tank. He was too busy tracking people who had been woken up and picking them up from below the power plants to notice her open her eyes. Quickly she closed them again, and fell back into the green code of the Matrix.  
  
But this time as she fell, something was different. Her speed was slightly slower, and she felt herself growing tired as she flew. This wasn't right; normally it took no effort at all to go through. Fear starting to enter her mind, she pushed herself forwards, and landed in the glorious English weather; it was raining.  
  
She stood there for a second, panting as if she'd just run a race. Why was it suddenly taking effort to go between the Real World and the Matrix? What if – what if she'd stopped? What would have happened to her?  
  
Glancing at her watch, she saw that she only had twenty-five minutes left. Quickly she ran down Jon's street towards his house. Luckily it was a Saturday, so Kathryn's parents would be at work, and Kathryn would be at home; otherwise there could have been a lot of explaining to do. Keeping her head down as she walked past people's front windows - it would only take one of them seeing her to let the agents know that she was here – she ran up the Thomas' front drive and, hesitating slightly, knocked on the door.  
  
She heard footsteps running down the stairs, and then the door flew open. In front of her was Kathryn, exactly as she remembered her. By the look on her face, Kathryn recognized her as well, even though her hair was dripping and she was wearing more expensive clothes than her usual 'Next' ensemble.  
  
Kathryn gasped and took a step backwards. Asha suddenly realized the danger they were both in and raced into the house, slamming the door behind her. "Kathryn, Kathryn, yes, I know it's me, but please, you've got to calm down- "  
  
"Asha!" she said, staring at her with wide eyes, "Asha! Oh my God, what are you doing here?"  
  
"Look, please, I'll explain, just calm down," said Asha desperately. If Kathryn turned into an agent, that was her chance gone. The image of the dead boy from last night flashed before her eyes, and she forced it back again.  
  
Kathryn suddenly stopped hyperventilating and stared at Asha, as if she'd suddenly grown another head. Asha didn't know whether this was normal for someone who'd just had a large shock, and quickly felt into her mind. To her absolute amazement, she could feel anger underneath the complete confusion. Kathryn was backing away still.  
  
"Is what the newspapers are saying true?" she demanded. Asha had not been expecting this at all, and it took a moment to register what she'd said.  
  
"Uh – newspapers?"  
  
"The newspapers!" Asha didn't need to look into Kathryn's mind now, her anger was starting to appear in her eyes. "Because I didn't want to believe it. But now you're here, perfectly healthy, and Jon's- he's-"  
  
"Wait, wait, they said something about me and Jon?" said Asha quickly, "What have they been saying?"  
  
"They said," said Kathryn fiercely, not taking her eyes off her for a second, "that YOU killed him."  
  
"I – I – I WHAT?" said Asha in shock, "They're saying WHAT?"  
  
Kathryn took a newspaper off the table and threw it at Asha. Asha, feeling somewhat worried that her best friend's sister should be this affected by her, read the front. The headline 'Teenager joins underground gang' was emblazoned across the page. "Oh no," she said, and read on.  
  
'Teenage girl Asha Warner, who disappeared from her home on May 3rd, has been suspected to have joined a violent gang active in America.  
  
'15-year-old Asha was discovered missing from her home one morning, and the bodies of both Mr and Mrs Warner were found downstairs. As the girl's door showed signs of being forced open, the police treated the case as suspicious, and were highly concerned as to the girl's safety.  
  
'But government officials today stated that they had evidence that the girl had in fact joined a gang of disestablishmentarians, headed by some of the most wanted men in America.  
  
'"This girl should now be considered as dangerous," said the government officials, "She has been seen in the company of other extremely dangerous people. She has been trained how to fight, and seems not afraid to kill people. There is evidence that it was she who killed Jon Thomas two weeks ago in Canterbury."  
  
'This statement shocked most of the country, especially those who had known Asha. Jon Thomas was apparently Asha's best friend before these startling events.  
  
'"I just can't believe it," said Jon Thomas' mother in a press conference this afternoon, "I grew up with her around, I looked on her as a daughter. I find it nearly impossible to believe that she would kill her best friend."  
  
'Despite all these events, efforts are still being made to find Asha Warner. She should not be approached, but if you have any information as to her whereabouts...' It went on with a list of ways of contacting them.  
  
"Government officials," muttered Asha, "Stupid agents. Find me too much of a threat now, do they?" She glanced up at Kathryn, who didn't seem to be blinking. "You don't believe this, do you?"  
  
"I didn't want to," said Kathryn, her face softening slightly, "I just couldn't believe it. So – where DID you go?" Suddenly her eyes brightened, and she looked even more alert than she had before. "Do you know what happened to Jon?"  
  
"I-" Asha suddenly realized how difficult this was going to be to explain. "Yes, I do, but that's an explanation for another time. What I need to tell you is-"  
  
"What explanation could be more important than what happened to my little brother?" said Kathryn angrily, "If you know what's happened to him, and you're not planning on telling me, why did you even bother coming?"  
  
"I came to save you!" said Asha, also angry now, "I didn't expect this sort of welcome!"  
  
Kathryn stopped. "Save me? What do you mean?"  
  
"Look," said Asha, glancing at her watch again, "What I'm going to tell you sounds absolutely mad, but I promise you, I'm telling the truth."  
  
"OK," said Kathryn warily.  
  
"The Matrix is real," said Asha. Trying to ignore the look on Kathryn's face, she carried on. "I've been unplugged, I'm on the Nebuchadnezzar with Neo and Morpheus and Trinity and people."  
  
"Morpheus is the bald guy, right?" said Kathryn, "With the pills?"  
  
"Uh – yes," said Asha, realizing that this was going to be difficult, "The Matrix is going to be shut down, we don't know when; all we know is that it's soon, and we're trying to get as many people out as possible."  
  
Asha didn't know what reaction she'd been expecting from Kathryn. She knew what she'd been hoping for; "OK, Asha, so I take the red pill? See you in Zion!" But that was slightly farfetched. What she hadn't been expecting was for her to start laughing. Which she did; slightly hysterically, but eyes filling up with tears as she laughed.  
  
"I knew it," laughed Kathryn, talking in a strange voice, "I knew it, I've gone mad, haven't I? Everyone was saying, 'Why isn't she talking more about Jon? If she keeps it all in, then there's bound to be problems.' Well, lookie what happened, I've gone crazy, completely mad..."  
  
"No, Kathryn, you haven't gone mad," said Asha desperately, "But I don't have time to explain – please, just take this, and I'll explain everything when I see you again."  
  
"Whatever," said Kathryn, taking it from Asha, "If you're not here, than neither's the pill, is it? So doesn't matter. Doesn't matter, doesn't matter, doesn't matter."  
  
Asha handed it over, feeling that this wasn't going exactly as she'd hoped. Yes, Kathryn was being unplugged, but it was going to be hard for her to let go if she didn't believe it. She paused. Was this really the right thing to do? Yes, it was. She'd just have to take the risk.  
  
But before she could even give Kathryn the pill, it all went wrong. Suddenly, just as she was reaching in her pocket for the box containing them, Kathryn's eyes suddenly closed, and she fell to the ground. In an instant, Asha was on her knees next to her. "Kathryn! Kathryn! Can you hear me?"  
  
Kathryn didn't respond. With a growing feeling of dread, she searched for a pulse on her neck; she found none. She was dead. Asha closed her eyes and bit her lip to keep from screaming in frustration.  
  
She only allowed herself to stay there for a second. The machines would have something to do with this, and that meant that they knew she was here. She had to get back to Ireland, where, she hoped, the machines wouldn't find her until it was time to leave. Hastily she got to her feet, but before she left, she unwillingly found herself looking at the photos on the mantelpiece. Photos of Jon and Kathryn with their parents, Kathryn's school photo, a photo of Jon when he was six. She felt a stab of guilt; she'd taken away the other of their children, and so soon after Jon. She forced herself to close her eyes.  
  
The journey was definitely more difficult this time. She felt as if something was holding her back, she wasn't soaring with the same effortlessness as before. Closing her eyes, she concentrated all her mind on forcing herself forwards. Just before she ran out of energy, to her intense relief, she appeared back in Ireland; but she had to sit down to wait for Etain, because her legs wouldn't hold her up.  
  
Finally Etain came round the corner and rolled down the window, raising her eyebrows when she saw Asha sitting on the pavement. "I'm fine," said Asha hastily, scrambling to her feet, "Come on, let's get back to the meeting place."

Not everyone in the Matrix has a happy ending.  
  
Calliope-Elven-Agent – If I write the spin-off about when David was first unplugged, then Apoc'll still be alive in that. Which'll be fun.  
  
Im a Brandybuck – Mary-Sues, while evil, are so much fun to write, I admit. The first of this trilogy was definitely bordering on Mary-Sue, if not one outright... Oh, and sorry for killing you, by the way...  
  
LiMiYa – Um, no, you won't find out for a while yet... I'm just that evil.  
  
Theshiz – I wanna be the very best, like no-one ever was, to catch them is my real test, to train them is my cause... I will travel across the land, searching far and wide, it takes Pokemon to understand the power that's insiiide... I could go on for absolutely ages. I know it all off by heart. It really is very, very sad.  
  
Sirocco.flow – (squirms) It's not that good, really. Argh. Embarrassed now... thanks very much...  
  
EriEka127 – There, I've updated! Hope you liked it! Oh, and you said on your bio you wanted a good HP fic – I recommend The Heir of Voldemort by Armelle-Madeline. Very interesting. 


	5. Missing

Apologies that I've been away so long. I was on holiday, and then came back to discover that I'd had two stories taken down, and couldn't update for another week. This is also the reason for the disappearance of over half my stories. There is a possibility I'll be leaving , but I'll let you know if I do.

Thanks everyone who reviewed! I realized some time ago that this story is at least verging on Mary-Sue. A terrible shock, I can say. But then I thought – what the hell, it's fun to write, some people like it, and at least no-one's out of character (as far as I know) and I can handle grammar rules. I would stop putting it up, but I have a feeling I'd suffer slow death from attack chickens as a result.

Chapter 5 - Missing

Exhausted, Asha and Etain returned to the abandoned building where the captains were meeting. It seemed that everyone else was there before them. Most people were talking quietly, a couple of people were joking about someone they'd had to unplug who'd refused the red pill, saying that they didn't take drugs. Neo was talking to Morpheus and Trinity in the corner, looking serious. When they entered, Morpheus looked up.

"Good," he said with relief, "When I heard about what happened-"

"What?" said Asha, worried that he'd heard what she'd done. But the look on his face told her otherwise. "Morpheus, what's happened?"

Morpheus had turned to rest of the group. "This plan has been executed to near perfection. We have succeeded in unplugging about 382 people. Some of the other eighteen refused to believe us. The others didn't survive the unplugging process. The shock was too much to their minds."

"Did all the crewmembers get back OK?" asked Etain.

"Most," said Niobe, "But Falcon vanished. We still don't know where he is."

"What?" said Asha. She'd been thinking about Kathryn, wondering if there was anything else she could have done, but this brought her back to the present with a sickening thump.

"His partner left him alone whilst he went to unplug someone," explained Morpheus, "When he returned, Falcon had vanished."

"Sorry, Asha," said Neo, resting a hand on her shoulder. Asha sank down into a chair. She couldn't think for a second. This was all too much, why couldn't the world just give her a break...

"Well, where could he have gone?" she said finally, "I mean, agents would have just left his body there, wouldn't they? If they'd-"

"They would," said Morpheus, not making her finish her sentence, "Your guess is as good as ours as to what's happened."

"But - aren't we going to look for him?"

"We have no idea where he is. We may as well search back on the Nebuchadnezzar, then we can cover a wider area."

"We have to return to Zion," said Niobe, "We must bring those unplugged today to safety, and discuss our next move with the Council."

"We will look for our missing crewmember first," said Morpheus, "If we don't return in a week, then something has happened to us, and someone else must lead the attack."

Niobe nodded, and all of the crews started to leave, heading for their various exits. "See you back in the Real World," said Phoenix, winking at Asha as he walked past. Asha smiled back half-heartedly and followed Neo and the others. As the other captains and their crews departed, she could hear them discussing why there hadn't been any agents around today. In fact, aside from the disappearance of Falcon, there had been no resistance to their removal of over two hundred people from the power plant at all.

"It is strange though, isn't it?" she heard Neo saying to Trinity, "No agents. Not even Agent Smith, and he seems to have it in for me, doesn't he?"

"I know," said Trinity, "It is very strange. But doubtless the answer will show itself at some point."

"Whether we will want to hear it or not," said Morpheus, "is another matter entirely."

That evening they were all very busy. The people they had unplugged that day had to be looked after and reminded of how things stood. As Asha moved from one person to the next, her mind returned to Falcon. Where could he have gone? He wouldn't have just left. Agents would have shot him, not bothered with the whole kidnapping thing – what was the point now that the Matrix was being shut down? But otherwise, where could he be?

Her mind sometimes brushed against the chance that it could have been David. She would chase the thought away immediately, but it would remain lurking at the back of her mind, worrying her, filling her mind with suspicions she didn't want there. David could have been tricking them all along – he could have been on the side of the agents all this time. But then why did he save her life? Twice? Maybe he hadn't been doing that really – maybe it was all a plan to gain her trust. They were waiting for her to come to see him again, and then they would kill her. But why didn't they just do it before? This really was all too confusing.

She walked over to the monitors and stared at the code of the Matrix. She wondered what they would do if it shut down, right this second. Well, there wouldn't be very much they could do.

"Hey," said Trinity, coming through, "You alright?"

"I'm fine," said Asha. She paused a second. "Did you know that everyone in England's been told that I joined a gang against the government and killed my best friend?"

"Were they really?" said Trinity, "How did you know that?"

"I, uh, looked it up on the internet," said Asha quickly. Trinity nodded. The Matrix search system was so complex that it could look up immediately pretty much and information you needed; except how to get into the Matrix mainframe, apparently. "But I can't even spell distabli – disestables – hell, I can't even say it!"

"Well, that's what happened to all of us," said Trinity, trying unsuccessfully to suppress a yawn, "If our families asked, they were told we'd joined terrorists... You should get some sleep, Asha."

"No, I'm not tired," lied Asha. Truth was, she was still exhausted from her journey to and from England, but she didn't want to go to sleep – because when she was asleep, her demons came to haunt her. "I may as well stay up and keep watch. You never know, I might find Falcon."

Trinity nodded, and both girls' eyes darted up to the main deck, where Falcon's body was still in one of the chairs, seemingly peaceful. "If you do..." said Trinity, "Don't hesitate. Wake us all up straight away." Asha nodded, throat suddenly becoming tight. Neo came towards them both, put his arm around Trinity and led her away.

Asha stared at the screen with the falling symbols, willing something to show up on it. They'd already tried tracing him, but he wasn't showing up. His vital statistics were still constant, if slightly high. That left two possibilities: he had been taken somewhere that was hard to see, like the core network; or he had joined the agents. When David had, they'd blocked his signal so that his crew couldn't find him. Asha didn't know which possibility she preferred.

Well, while she was awake, she may as well try and find out something on the mainframe. She loaded up the news pages, ignoring the articles about her. Saying she'd killed Jon. She couldn't believe that.

_Ah-ha_, said a voice at the back of her head though, _You did kill him though, didn't you?_

"No," muttered Asha angrily, "I didn't. It was Calypso, not me."

_Yes, but you could have saved him easily, couldn't you?_ continued the voice, _You let him die._

"Shut up."

_You let him go. You killed him._

"Shut UP!" said Asha, gripping her hair, as if that might silence the voice, "It was to save Neo and the others! I did the right thing!"

The voice was silent.

Asha furiously began searching for anything that might indicate someone getting to the Matrix mainframe, anything to keep her mind off guilt. But there was nothing. She kneaded her eyes with her hands in frustration. There must be something she could do, something, anything...

Asha woke up. For a second she was confused, but she didn't know why. Then she realized – she was in her room. Last thing she remembered, she'd been at the monitors. Rubbing her eyes, she scrambled out of bed and walked out of her door towards the main deck.

"Oh, you're up," said Neo, emerging from his room across the hall, "You were exhausted last night. I got up during the night, and when I found you asleep we just carried you to your room."

"Oh. Thanks."

Neo looked at her face. "Are you OK? You still look tired."

"No, I'm fine," said Asha firmly, half to Neo and half to herself. The exhaustion she'd been feeling since the trip was still lingering in her mind. She forced herself to ignore it. "Who's on the monitors?"

"Trinity, last time I checked."

"Is she OK?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, her sister's still in the Matrix."

"Oh." Neo looked thoughtful. "She hasn't mentioned anything."

"But at the meeting yesterday, I think she was quite worried. I could just sense it."

"I'm sure she's fine," said Neo. He smiled reassuringly and headed off towards the canteen. Asha, however, still felt uneasy, and decided to go and check on her. She clambered up the ladder towards the area with the monitors and where they were all jacked into the Matrix. As she walked towards the chair, she could see that Trinity wasn't in it – Trinity always rested her feet on the counter, no matter how many times Morpheus rolled his eyes when he saw it.

She walked faster towards the monitors. No, Trinity definitely wasn't there. She looked into the code of the Matrix, though she didn't know why she would find Trinity in there. Getting worried now, she glanced over the top of the monitors. She froze, but only for a moment. Recovering her voice quickly, she shouted "Neo!"

Neo came running up the ladder and down the corridor to the chairs. He looked at her questioningly, but then saw where she was looking. "Oh no."

"Oh yes." They both looked at Trinity's body in one of the chairs. "She's gone in to look for her."

Dear me, another cliffie. Where did that come from?

Im a Brandybuck – Yeah, sorry about that. Took a lot of umming and erring to do it, believe me. "Do I kill her or not? Do I kill her or not?" Big decision. I don't think Mafia boss is a career for me.

Eowyn Skywalker – I had realized that it was. I think I realized right when I started it, but I've been in denial for some time. I've gone through the five stages of grief: Denial ("It's not! It's NOT!"), Anger ("Idiot, Katie! How can you have been so fangirlish?"), Fear ("What have I unleashed upon the world?? What'll I do??"), Bargaining ("Maybe if I go back and change it – how the hell can I do that?") and have finally reached acceptance ("Meh, not as bad as some out there, and at least Neo hasn't fallen in love with her or something").

LiMiYa – Uh... you will find out soon... just not for a few chapters yet.

Sirocco.flow – No, my sister got it for me. All my violin teacher got me to do with him was an account of what he was like when she taught him.

Theshiz – Oh dear, I didn't mean to keel you with sad. I really must stop killing reviewers. And characters. Am I just this murdering psychopath?? Wouldn't be surprised...


	6. Paris

Thanks everyone who reviewed! Got my GCSE results – 7 As and 3 As. No-one was more amazed than me. By the way, I'm suffering a bit of writer's block concerning this story, so apologies for delays in updating. Also, I'm just about to go back to school and, stupid me, I've taken on an extra subject – I'm taking 5 AS Levels instead of 4. I'm mad. Completely mad. So that could cause delays too. But I will definitely finish this story, don't worry!

Chapter 6 - Paris

"This is so unlike her though," said Morpheus, looking more tired than Asha had ever seen him. "She normally follows rules to the letter, but to go into the Matrix without authorization, without even telling anyone..."

Neo was standing next to Trinity's chair, almost protectively. Asha glanced at her monitor. Though the Trinity in the chair looked perfectly calm and tranquil, her brainwaves were slightly sharpened, showing that she was feeling slightly on the edge. Asha wasn't surprised. She could hardly blame her, either, as she'd done the same thing. She hoped anxiously that the same thing wouldn't happen to her sister as had happened to Kathryn.

"Either way, she's in there," said Neo, "We need to go and find her."

"You're right," said Morpheus. He caught Asha's shoulder as she headed towards one of the chairs. "Asha, I think it's best if you stay here."

"But-"

"We need someone to keep an eye on all those who've been unplugged and to keep watching the monitors for any sign of Falcon. You're the most tired out of all of us." Asha glanced at Neo accusingly.

"Hey, don't blame me," said Neo, "I could have told you were tired from a mile off."

"Stay here," said Morpheus firmly. "Should we get into any real trouble, I'm sure Neo can handle it."

Asha was about to argue, when she realised he was right. Besides, he was her captain; though he often didn't act like it, she still had to obey his orders. "OK."

Tank started to load both Neo and Morpheus in. She wandered over to the monitors, sat down and started a trace on Trinity. About a minute later, Tank came and joined her.

"Where am I loading them?" he asked.

"She's in France, I think," said Asha, "Why's she there?"

"Well, that's where she grew up."

"Of course," said Asha, "Silly, silly Asha..."

Tank ran a search on nearby entrances and loaded Morpheus and Neo into the Matrix. Meanwhile, Asha narrowed down the trace. Paris, she seemed to be in. Asha smiled. Paris. Many fond memories of a school trip there came flooding back; when she and Jon had waved a pirate flag off the top of the Eiffel Tower until their teacher had told them off; when she'd eaten snails just so that she could say that she'd done it, and ended up feeling sick for the rest of the day; and when they'd overheard two French motorists arguing vociferously on the Champs-Elysees and the boys had been gleefully trying out their new French vocabulary for the rest of the day.

"There she is," pointed Asha, "There doesn't seem to be any trouble from agents. Her hack must have been pretty traceless, they may not have noticed she's there."

"That's good," said Tank, "More chance of getting this resolved soon. She seems to be making for La Rue de Matou. Check to see if there's anyone with her sister's name living there."

Tank tapped the keys quickly with practised ease. He didn't have to search long. "Yes. Someone called Elsa Lemaitre lives in one of the apartment buildings. No record of any husband. She has a medical degree, and also works part-time for the Missing Persons helpline."

"Obviously hasn't forgotten Trinity then," said Asha.

xxxx

Trinity was walking through the backstreets of Paris when her phone rang. She tried to ignore it, but knew she had to answer it really. But she was so close, she couldn't give up now. Morpheus had been an only child, he wouldn't understand. The phone rang again, seemingly more insistently. She was starting to attract attention, so she took it out of her pocket.

"Hello?"

"Trinity, where the hell are you?"

It was Neo. He sounded concerned. And angry. He had reason to. She hadn't had authorization to go into the Matrix. But she knew that if she'd asked, Morpheus would have said no, and kept an eye on her. And some things were more important than rules.

"You found me then."

"Of course we did. What on earth were you thinking?"

Trinity paused for a second. "I have to do this, Neo," she said finally, "You probably won't understand fully, even if I explain for hours, but I can't just leave her here."

"Hang on," said Neo, "We've nearly reached you."

"You've come in?"

"What did you expect us to do, wait by the phone?"

The phone went dead. Trinity replaced it in her pocket, feeling slightly guilty. If anything had happened to Neo while he was in here, it would be all her fault. She sat down next to the wall to wait.

xxxx

Neo, having hung up, hurried along the Champs-Elysees with Morpheus whilst trying to ignore the admiring glances of some of the Parisian girls. The Matrix wasn't quite as popular here, but it would only take one to recognize him to start a chain reaction that could quite easily bring agents.

And speaking of agents... The phone rang. Morpheus pulled it out of his pocket in a lightning-quick movement. "Yes." He listened for a moment then hung up. He turned to Neo. "Agents," he said, "They seem to be moving towards Trinity."

"Do we have time?" asked Neo.

"You have time," said Morpheus, raising an eyebrow. Neo understood, looked around to check for more Parisian girls, and shot into the air.

xxxx

Trinity heard footsteps and glanced upwards. There was no-one there. She remembered that she ought to be on her guard and got to her feet, hand going for the gun at her side. Agents weren't the only danger for a woman in the backstreets of Paris. She remembered that much from her time here, even though it had been so long ago. She doubted things had changed much.

But it seemed she didn't have to worry about those things at that moment. She had enough to be getting on with; especially with three agents coming down the alley, all with guns.

'Great,' she thought, tensing herself, reading for action, 'Neo, in the films you have great timing; I could really use that right now.'

xxx

Neo, as he flew, suddenly saw Trinity surrounded by three agents. They all had guns, and Trinity was preparing to fight them. But he could see that the fight was hopeless.

The vision vanished as soon as it had come. Neo urged himself to go faster, hoping he wouldn't be too late. The idea of losing Trinity was so unacceptable to his mind, it made his head spin. But it seemed to be happening more and more frequently.

As he speeded around a corner, the full impact of that thought hit him. The machines must be aware that she was his only weakness – their attachment was putting her in danger. He shook his head; he'd face up to that fact later. Now, he just had to make sure that she was OK.

xxxx

Trinity threw herself behind one of the large dustbins in the alley as bullets shot through the air where she had just been. She quickly glanced up – there was a windowsill about ten feet off the ground. She could make it, but then she'd be an obvious target for the agents, and she knew that didn't miss regularly. But it was either that or stay here, where she really was an obvious target. There was a small chance she could get onto the roof of the building with only minimum injuries, and maybe she could lose them.

She took a deep breath, well aware that it could be her last, and leapt into the air.

As she flew through the air, she felt a pain in her side, and immediately knew that she'd been shot. Luckily the wound didn't seem too deep, so there was a strong chance that she could still make it away. However, a bullet in the side can affect one's concentration, and she missed the windowsill completely and fell back to the ground. She sprung back to her feet as quickly as her sore limbs would allow, and found herself facing all three of the agents. All still with guns, apparently. Great.

But before any shot could be fired, a black shape came hurtling round the corner, and collided with all three of the agents, sending them flying down the alley. Trinity recognized it immediately – only Neo could come at just the right time.

He got to his feet in one fluid movement, grabbed onto her and leapt into the air. "What took you?" she asked.

"Lot of traffic," shrugged Neo. They landed on a roof nearby, where Neo set her on her feet and pulled out his phone. "Morpheus, I've got her," he said, "She's been shot, but it's not bad. Is there an exit nearby?"

"I'm not leaving yet," said Trinity, drawing breath in short gasps, holding onto her side.

"You're wounded," said Neo, "We have to get you back to the Nebuchadnezzar right now. And agents know we're here."

"But Neo, I can't just leave her in here," protested Trinity. Neo sighed. Trinity could get very stubborn about things like this. "You don't have any siblings, you wouldn't understand. But please. Just let me get her out of here."

Neo threw her the phone. "Well, you can try to persuade Morpheus. It's not my call."

Trinity smiled. She lifted the phone to her ear, her arm giving a painful throb as she did. "Morpheus-"

"I understand, Trinity," said Morpheus, not even needing her to ask, "But it's too risky, the agents are already aware that you're there."

"Then you _don't _understand. If you understood, you'd realise that I'd face any risk just to get her out. If you don't help me, then I'll just stay and do it on my own. I don't care if I get suspended from duty, some things are more important than that."

She could almost hear Morpheus thinking. "Alright then," he said, "But you come back here first. Let Neo do it. You're wounded and would only slow him down," he said seriously before she could object, "He can do it fine by himself."

"Alright," she said. She hung up, then turned to Neo.

"What did he say?" he asked.

"You've got a little job to do."

xxxx

Im a Brandybuck – Eep, she was. Argh. I can't escape LOTR, no matter which fandom I flee to!

Eowyn Skywalker – Not more minions! I've already got the attack chickens after me because my stories got taken down! And garlic would be a good evil minion, but not necessarily the best one for vampires...

Hogwarts-Drama-Queen – Ah yes, a lack of love interest is one of the things holding it back from the vast pit of Sueness. But that may change.

Sirocco.flow – Getting signed photos is definitely a bonus. I've also got a signed photo of Andy Serkis now. And thanks!

Nina Hikari – Wow, thanks! I've been wondering that for absolutely ages! Swedish Pagans? That's, um... interesting.

LiMiYa – Yas, SAH! One continual story coming up!

Trinity144 – (sighs despairingly) Not MORE winged monkeys...


	7. Elsa

Thanks everyone who reviewed! Also, a warning if you live in England – as good as you may think 5 AS Levels will look on your UCAS form, DO NOT TAKE FIVE. That's the mistake I made. Stress levels reaching no-one-touch-my-head-or-it-might-just-explode levels. Arrrgh.

**Chapter 7 - Elsa**

Elsa herself was in an apartment, completely unaware of her sister's attempt to save her from an unknown fate. But her mind was on Trinity – it always was. She'd made quite a bit of money from being a doctor, but she'd never forgotten when her sister vanished, even though it was twelve years ago now.

She was on the computer right now. She'd spent a bit of her money on private detectives to look for her, and she was expecting an e-mail from them at some point. She'd been told that Trinity, though she hadn't been told that was her name now, had joined a terrorist organization, but she didn't believe it; her sister would never do that.

The only lead they had was the fact that Trinity from that weird sci-fi film had looked a bit like her, but that couldn't be her. She had actually e-mailed the film studios when she was feeling particularly low, asking whether the actress was her, but she'd never gotten a reply. It couldn't be, anyway. Her sister couldn't act, and the girl she remembered had long light brown hair and wouldn't say boo to a goose.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. She got to her feet and looked through the peephole. She could only see the back of someone's head – he appeared to be examining the wallpaper on the other side of the hall.

"Who is it?" she called. In French of course.

"My name's Thomas," he said in perfect French, not turning round. "I know something about your sister."

Elsa gasped. Her thoughts span for a second. "What do you know about her?"

"I know where she is. Can I come in?"

Elsa didn't hesitate but pulled the door open hurriedly. The man came in. He was dressed all in black, which normally would have worried Elsa slightly, but right now she didn't care. "How do you know my sister?" she said, shutting the door behind her.

"I'm a friend of hers," he said, finally turning round. Elsa started slightly – he was an exact lookalike of that other guy in the Matrix, the one all her friends liked. Boy, were they going to be jealous when she told them about this. "She asked me to come and see you."

"What? Where is she?" said Elsa, hardly being able to bear all the suspense she was feeling. "Have you seen her? Is she OK?"

"She's fine," he said, smiling, "But you've seen her as well."

"I have?" This was all getting very confusing.

"Well, if you've seen 'The Matrix'."

Elsa suddenly felt very light-headed and sat down on the carpet. She couldn't think for about ten seconds. Then finally, she forced herself to look up again. "Was that actually her?" she said, unable to make her voice louder than a whisper.

"Yes."

"She's become an actress?"

Neo tried not to smile. He crouched down in front of her, and took his sunglasses off. He seemed to be looking for words. "No," he finally said, "Have you seen 'The Matrix'?"

"Yes, but I can't remember much of it."

"Well, it's not just a film. It's real."

Elsa stared at him. For a second she was worried she'd let a crazy man into her apartment, but then she saw the truth in his eyes. "Real?"

"Real. Trinity is your sister."

Elsa allowed this thought to sink in. It was too much. Not only was her sister alive, but she was in some film with machines and fighting. Not only that, but the film was real. She did what most people would do – she fainted.

Neo caught her as she toppled over sideways to prevent her from hitting her head on the table. "Elsa? Damn it." He pulled out his phone. "Morpheus?"

"Is that Neo?" he heard Trinity shouting down the phone, "Is Elsa OK? Ask him if Elsa's OK!"

"I'm asking him, Trinity!" he heard Morpheus saying to Trinity. Neo smiled. "How did it go?" Morpheus asked.

"She didn't take it quite as well as we'd hoped."

"What, did she not believe you?"

"Well, she believed me... I think. But she fainted."

"Ah..." said Morpheus, "Well, that can happen sometimes. Bring her here, and I'll talk to her."

xxxx

On the way to the Paris 'Unplug-Point', as it was nicknamed amongst the captains, Elsa woke up. The sudden realization that she was being carried – through the air – by the man who said her big sister was fighting lots of machines almost made her faint again. But the air pelting onto her face livened her slightly.

"Where are we going?" she shouted into Neo's ear.

"To meet someone," he replied. His tone of voice told Elsa not to ask who. Instead she looked down on the streets of Paris. The only reason she hadn't freaked out completely by now was most of her brain was insisting that this was all a dream, from which she'd wake up soon. In a way, she was right.

The flight didn't take long, and soon they arrived at the abandoned apartment building. Neo shot through one of the windows and set Elsa back onto her feet, where she quickly grabbed onto the wall to prevent her knees from buckling. He then led her down the hall to the room where Morpheus was waiting – and Trinity. Neo wasn't very surprised to see her there; she would have ordered Tank to load her up again as soon as she got back to the Nebuchadnezzar if he knew her at all.

Trinity glanced up the second the door opened. When she saw Elsa, she gasped, and covered her mouth with both of her hands. Elsa heard the sound and looked at Trinity. Recognition filled her mind at once – how couldn't she have recognised her in the film? This was her sister.

"Elsa!" shouted Trinity joyfully, and raced towards her. Just as she reached her, she held back for a second; even though they were sisters, they hadn't seen each other for twelve years. But to Elsa, all that time suddenly seemed like a second. She threw her arms around her elder sister, who had vanished when she herself was only fifteen.

"It's – it's," said Elsa, trying to find words, "It's really you. My sister. My Marie."

"Marie!" said Trinity, smiling widely, tears in the corners of her eyes, "I haven't been called that for so long. My name's Trinity now."

"I know," said Elsa, smiling slightly more shyly.

Morpheus stepped forward, putting a hand on Trinity's shoulder. He also smiled at Elsa. "Welcome," he said, "My name is Morpheus, and I am extremely honoured to meet you."

"Bonjour," said Elsa, shaking his hand. She turned to Neo. "Thank you. Thank you for giving me back my sister."

"Oh no, it was entirely her doing," said Neo, "She can be very determined."

"I remember," smiled Elsa.

"Come and sit down," said Morpheus, "There are several things we need to talk about."

xxxx

Tank's phone rang. "Operator," he said immediately. There were a few seconds pause. "Starting search." He started tapping the keys on the keyboard in front of him. Asha knew that he was trying to trace Elsa's output signal. He found it reasonably quickly. "Got her." He turned off the phone, and started the Nebuchadnezzar's engines. "Let's go get her."

"It's all gone OK? She's unplugged?" said Asha anxiously, as the Nebuchadnezzar lifted off the ground and started to move through the tunnels, picking up speed.

"Of course," said Tank, looking slightly suspicious, "Why wouldn't it?"

"Never mind." Relief flooded her.

Suddenly Tank's phone rang. "Operator," he answered immediately. Asha expected that it was just Morpheus and the others phoning for an exit, and hardly paid any attention. But when Tank didn't say anything else for more than five seconds, she glanced at him, and saw him frowning in confusion.

"What is it?" she asked.

Tank turned and looked at her, the confused face remaining. "It's David."

xxxxx

Im a Brandybuck – Hmm... Jim Carrey... my strange mind has made me imagine Morpheus dressed as the Grinch. Hehehehe... I personally haven't been shot either, but I had a dream where I was. I have lots of dreams about being killed in various ways. Drowning, stabbing, shot with an arrow, even garrotted with cheese wire like in 'The Watcher'. Um. Anyway. Onto more cheerful topics. Um. I might have a chance to see Mackenzie Crook (Ragetti from POTC). That's always cool!

Eowyn Skywalker – How did this scene remind of AotC? Oh wait... right, Anakin going to find his mum. Took me a moment there. Heh. I tried to enter that caption contest on your website, but I couldn't login for some reason! Dangit! Also, I never figured out how to send private messages. Double dangit. But alliteration makes it all better. Aaah.

Nina Hikari – Dang, my ancestors weren't nice. Harumph. (steers clear of doorknobs)

Hogwarts-Drama-Queen – Thanks! I was pretty peeved as well. Ah well. My own website will be up soon – once I figure out how to do it...

LiMiYa - ... thinking about it now, I could have put another action sequence in there. Dangit. Oh well. Maybe once this is all over, I could do a special extended edition, and add another scene in there... hehehe, yeah right, like I have enough time for that...


	8. Betrayal

Sorry I haven't updated in ages. Sixth Form ultra increase in homework.

**Chapter 8 - Australia**

"David?" said Asha in surprise, "What does he want?"

"To talk to you, apparently," said Tank, and, after a moment, handed her the headset. Asha took it apprehensively and put it on her head.

"David, what do you want?"

"Hello, Asha. How lovely to hear from you as well. I trust that you're well?" David sounded the same as he always did. Confident, assured, and ever so slightly irritating.

"I doubt you're just phoning to enquire after my health. What do you want?"

Asha could almost hear him rolling his eyes. "As a matter of fact, I have some information for you. Your little friend, Falcon. You lost him, didn't you?"

"Yes," said Asha, getting wary, "So?"

"Tut tut, Asha, you really should look after your friends more carefully. You can't keep losing them, can you?"

Asha flinched slightly. She didn't know whether David had meant that in a hurtful sense, but it didn't matter either way. It still brought back memories, and she was even more wary than before. "Look, make your point."

"Very well, I will. But only because it's you, Asha darling." Asha rolled her eyes and was glad that Tank couldn't hear this conversation. He continued in mildly disinterested tones. "I might just know what's happened to him." Asha let out a squeak of surprise and delight before she could stop herself; she could have sworn that she heard David laugh slightly on the other end of the phone, but when he continued, he sounded serious. "He's been captured. I don't know why. If you come into the Matrix, I can take you to him."

Asha very nearly leapt to her feet and demanded Tank to load her up. But then she hesitated. "Why should I trust you? Both of the last times I've come to meet you, agents have turned up."

"Now that's not nice. But I'll humour you. One, because both those times you also only escaped because of me. Two, because it would be easier to save Falcon with my help than without it. Three, you don't have much of a choice, do you?"

Asha hesitated. David sensed her wariness. "Look, I'll tell you. He's in Broome, in Australia. It's up to you whether you come or not. Ciao, darling." He hung up. Asha slowly took off the headset and gave it back to Tank.

"What did he say?" asked Tank, sounding surprised.

"He said to come into the Matrix," she said, "He knows where Falcon is. Apparently Broome, in Australia. Try running a search on him."

Tank pressed several more keys. "There he is," he said, pointing, even though Asha could clearly see his signal now on the screens. "Broome. A small town on the coast of Australia." He paused, frowning at the screen. "Asha, this is an operator's nightmare. There's only one existing entrance, the one that Falcon and his partner used to get there, and even that one's a bit away from where he is. If that's disabled while you're in there, it could be a long time before I could get you out."

"I see," said Asha, mind racing. As far as she could see, there was only one thing she could do. She got to her feet and marched over to one of the empty chairs.

"What do you think you're doing?" exclaimed Tank as she pulled down the monitors next to it, "You're not still going in, are you?"

"Of course I am. What, did you expect me just to sit here and leave him there?"

"But it's too dangerous. We don't know who's got him."

"I know. That's why I need to go now." She glanced at Falcon's sleeping body. "David might be going to help me. He might be waiting to kill me. But if he's helping me, I'll be able to get Falcon out of there. And if it is a trap, if I go now, Morpheus and the others won't come with me. As I see it, that way I minimize our losses. If the worst comes to the worst, all you lose are Falcon and I. We're not necessary to win this war. My part in the prophecy has been fulfilled. So load me up," she finished, glaring at him, "Now."

Asha stepped out of the closed shop that was the drop-off point for that area. She'd never been to Australia before, and never imagined that she'd come trying to rescue her friend from whomsoever had captured him. She closed her eyes, trying to sense anything. Nothing. This silence worried her more. Surely, if this was a trap, she should be able to feel agents somewhere around?

She pulled out her phone. "Tank, can you see David anywhere?"

"He's waiting in an apartment building near you," he said, "The same one that Falcon's in, I believe. I can't tell if anyone's with him, or get an exact room location, the picture's not very clear."

"I'll find him. Where are Morpheus and the others?"

"On their way back to the ship. You realise that I'm going to have a hard time trying to explain this to them?"

"I know. Chances are they'll follow me. Which is why I need to do this quickly. Try to keep them there."

"I don't know how I'll be able to persuade them."

"Remind them what happened in London."

Tank smiled. "All right. Good luck."

Asha hung up and set off towards the apartment building. She'd been hoping that 'The Matrix' wouldn't be as big here in a small town in Australia, but no such luck – there were still posters for 'Reloaded' around, and she passed a group of girls her age discussing 'Revolutions' animatedly. One was saying how sad she'd be if Neo died, another was saying how sad she'd be if Agent Smith died (she couldn't help smiling at that) and the others seemed to be slightly hyper. She kept her head down and soon arrived at the building. The door was locked, but she dealt with that quickly and pushed it open, breathing in a dark musty smell that made her cough.

The lights were off in the lobby. It didn't look like anyone lived here. The floor was dusty, there were notice boards in the corner with yellowed notices about charity events – from two years ago. Asha walked quietly across the floor, still trying to sense any movement. Still nothing. She accidentally kicked a McDonalds carton, which skittered across the floor, sounding loud in the silence. Where was everyone? "This is just like a horror movie," she thought, and smiled to herself.

"So this would be the part where the axe murderer comes out of the darkness?" said a voice behind her. Asha span round. She knew that voice. And only one person she knew seemed to enjoy seeing what she was thinking.

"David!" she said, "Why is Falcon being held here? Isn't it a bit-" Her voice failed as he pulled out a gun in a lightning-quick movement and held it to her head.

"Sadly, I couldn't find an axe on such short notice," he said, "Sorry I don't fit into your comparison."

Asha stared from the gun to David again, feeling completely shocked. Firstly because David was here with a gun, and secondly that David was here with a gun and pointing it at her, and thirdly that she'd actually come here voluntarily, fully aware that this could happen. "I knew it," she said coldly.

David rolled his eyes. "Gosh, really? You knew it was a trap, and you came in anyway? '_Lord, what fools these mortals be!_', that's what Puck says, isn't it? Now, are you going to come along like a good girl, or am I going to have to persuade you?"

"I'd like to see you try," said Asha, tensing slightly. Her eyes sparkled a challenge to David, who, smiling slightly, put his gun away. For a moment, they both stood there, Asha with one arm behind her back and the other arm in front, inviting him to fight. Suddenly David shot into movement, and Asha was ready.

Asha slashed forward with one arm, but David leant to the side, bringing round his own as he did so. Asha blocked it with her other arm, pinned it to her side and leapt upwards, swivelling sideways, bringing her foot towards the side of his head. David leant backwards, sending both her leg and the rest of her over him, and she landed on her feet behind him, spinning round immediately to block the kick that she knew was forthcoming. And so it went on.

They circled each other, jabbing and striking with their hands, blocking each other in one seamless fight, both moving faster than lightning. Asha kicked out, David would block it, then counter-strike with a slice from his arm, Asha's elbow would be there diverting it into empty space. As they fought, Asha's mind was racing. What was going on? Had David been on the side of the machines all along? She didn't want to think that.

She leapt up onto the wall, grabbing a notice board from it and quickly ripping one of the surrounding pieces of wood from it. Twisting round, she pushed off again, flying at David with the wood held over one shoulder. David didn't even blink, but quickly brought his own piece flying from the board into his hand, and blocked Asha's blow. He then swung the wood at her head, and she leant over backwards so that it whizzed just over her chest, and she jabbed out towards his legs. He jumped to avoid it and brought the wood swinging downwards as he fell, adding the momentum of his drop to the force behind the swing. Asha leapt away across the hall so that it hit the floor, kicking away from the wall as soon as she hit it, the frame held out it front of her. So it went on, swinging and thrusting the pieces of wood at each other, spinning and ducking the blows. The pace quickened until Asha didn't think about what she doing; it just happened as it came.

Suddenly David kicked out with one foot, completely changing the sequence she thought he'd been following; caught off guard, Asha took the full force of the kick and flew across the other side of the room, hitting her head against the wall, stars flashing in front of her eyes. Before she could get up, she heard David's footsteps race across the room and felt something sharp jab into her neck, and suddenly everything went black.

xxx

An attempt at describing a fight scene – please tell me what you thought of it.

Im a Brandybuck – Didn't get to go in the end, but my friend did. She said he was really cool.

Nina Hikari – I updated... but not very soon... sorry...

Eowyn Skywalker – (whine) Why isn't there another caption contest yet?

Calliope-Elven-Agent – Poppit? Sounds like some kind of Pokemon...

LiMiYa – Thanks!


	9. Revelations

Hope you're all enjoying this! I liked writing it...

Chapter 9 - Revelations

Falcon opened his eyes and sat up. He was still in the apartment; where he'd been sitting ever since he'd come round that morning. He wasn't tied up or anything; what was the point when they knew that he knew the second he moved, they'd shoot him? Sitting in a chair next to him, curled up cat-like and examining her nails in an almost bored way, was a girl. This girl, he understood, was the same girl who'd caused them all that trouble a month ago, and very nearly killed them all. Even though he'd never met her, he knew it had to be her; she looked just like Asha. Calypso.

"Rise and shine," she said, glancing up and seeing him awake with a smile on her face. She'd look almost innocent, normal, but not many normal teenage girls had a gun in their hands. That, and a look of happy malice in their eyes.

"What the hell did you do?" he asked angrily.

"Well, you were being very boring," sighed Calypso, "It didn't seem that we were going to persuade you to just phone the Nebuchadnezzar under your own free will. Lucky I'd prepared for that, really. Be prepared, isn't that the Boy Scout motto? Were you ever a boy scout? Essential part of growing up, in my opinion."

"You didn't answer my question," said Falcon. She looked at him.

"No, I didn't, did I? Well, that's where my program-writing skills came in handy. I used a technique rather similar to your human hypnotism, actually – causes the same effect in the mind. So you were nice enough to reveal your ship's phone number. Not to worry, bird boy, your crew's on its way."

"They won't come," said Falcon, wishing he'd sound more confident.

"Oh?" said Calypso, sounding as though a little child had told her that they'd seen fairies at the bottom of the garden, "And why's that?"

"Because I'm-" He stopped. He'd been about to say 'I'm not important', but something stirred in his memory. Something the Oracle had told him when he first went to meet her. Could Calypso know about that? She didn't seem to. But the crew didn't know about it, and that was the important thing. "I'm not important," he said firmly, more to himself than to her.

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, as if to contradict him, the door was kicked open. David walked in. In his arms he was carrying the lifeless body of Asha.

Neo, Morpheus and Trinity returned to the Nebuchadnezzar, having successfully unplugged Elsa. Morpheus sat up, about to head up to the control deck to help Tank pick her up, when something caught his eye. That something was Asha in one of the chairs. "Tank, what's Asha doing?"

Tank didn't answer straight away, but went over to Neo's chair and removed the needle from the back of his head. This didn't do anything to allay Morpheus's fears. "Tank?"

Tank seemed to be considering his words. "We got a phone call from David," he said finally as he walked over to Trinity, "He knew where Falcon was. In Australia."

"Australia?" said Neo, unknowingly wearing the same confused expression that Asha had worn only a short time before. Tank pulled out Trinity's needle, and she sat up, quickly getting to her feet but stopping when she saw Asha in one of the chairs.

"Yes. He asked Asha to come and meet him, and that he'd help her to rescue him from whoever captured him."

"Tank," said Neo, dread rising, "Please don't tell me she went."

"She did," said Tank reluctantly.

"What!" said Morpheus, striding over to the computers, looking half angry and half worried. "What on earth does she think she's doing? Why didn't she wait for the rest of us to get back?"

"She didn't want to get the rest of you into danger," said Tank, now feeling that he shouldn't have let her go, "I tried to stop her, but you ordered me that she wasn't to be told about what the Oracle said-"

"I never imagined something like this happening!" said Morpheus angrily. He didn't sound angry at Tank or Asha, he sounded angry with himself. He was silent for a moment, running one hand over his head, looking agitated. He looked at Trinity, who looked back at him, her eyes silently pleading with him. "We've got to go and pick up Elsa," he said finally, "We can't leave her in the water too long, but we won't be able to hack in a new signal from the below the towers, there are too many sentinels around. But afterwards, Neo, you go in there and try and find out what's going on."

"Asha!" said Falcon, jumping to his feet, anger rising inside him, "What have you done to her?"

"Stop fussing," said Calypso, getting up and shoving him back into his seat. She walked over to Asha. She swept the hair off her face and looked at her, eyes closed, smiling. "Good. Where are the others?"

"There was no sign of them downstairs," said David, putting Asha onto the floor. For the first moment, Calypso looked slightly less composed.

"What? They didn't come?"

"Evidently not," said David, sounding the same as ever.

Calypso looked at Asha on the floor. "Well, she can tell us why then." She pulled out a small syringe; Falcon suddenly understood and got to his feet, but Calypso had already injected it into Asha's arm. To his great relief, she groaned slightly and opened her eyes. She looked around in surprise at David, but then saw Calypso. Her face hardened.

"Hello, Asha," said Calypso brightly, "By the way, you're not just looking at a talking mirror. It's me!"

"Actually, me," said Asha angrily. She made to jump to her feet, but David had already grabbed onto her shoulders and hauled her to her feet. "Why do you always choose to look like me?"

"Well, for a human, you don't look _completely_ horrendous. Though I have taken the liberty of being a couple of dress sizes smaller. Lay off the synthetic protein, eh?" she grinned, winking at her.

Asha growled and tried to shake off David from holding onto her arms. He didn't let go. Resigned, Asha's eyes flicked around the room, looking for any possible escape. She saw Falcon. "Falcon! Are you-"

"I'm fine," he said quickly.

"Where are the others then?" asked Calypso, "Covering your back? Don't tell me they decided to send the second hope to deal with this?"

Asha's mind was working rapidly. Calypso had wanted all of the crew to come. If she realized that the others didn't know what was happening, and were most likely on their way, then she and Falcon would just be used as more bargaining material.

"They didn't come," she said fiercely, "They didn't consider one little program to be a threat. Besides, they don't think I'm necessary any more, do they? I've done what I was meant to."

"They figured out that it was a trap?" said David, "I feel so untrusted."

"Of course they did," snapped Calypso, "Asha has an annoying habit of doing things like that."

"You killed my best friend," said Asha, feeling any leftover fear in her changing swiftly to anger, "You made me watch him die, right in front of my eyes."

"I killed him?" said Calypso, slightly amusedly, holding up her hands in mock self-defence, "Hey, don't blame me. You could have stopped me any time you wanted."

"You knew that I couldn't," said Asha, trying to keep her anger in check, even though she knew that it was true.

"You had the vial. You had the deal. What more did you want?" said Calypso, "Well, you seemed to have learnt this time. First Jon, then Falcon... To kill one friend could be forgiven, but two seems to be careless..."

Asha lashed out with both fists at once, but David's grip on her arms tightened, and he held them at her sides. Calypso didn't even blink, but smiled and wandered away across the room, picked up the gun from where she'd left it on the chair. Asha stopped fighting, feeling the storm of anger that had hit her subsiding into a tight ball of hatred inside her chest. She glanced over her shoulder at him and glared.

"I thought you'd changed," she said, "But you hadn't, had you? You were with them all along. It was all just another trick."

"A good one, apparently," shrugged David. Asha couldn't bear to look at him any more, so reluctantly she turned back to Calypso. Right then, she couldn't tell who she hated more.

Calypso seemed to be thinking. "Actually..." she said, thinking aloud and turning back to face Asha, "Actually, this is even better. Better than I could have thought of."

"Even better?" said Asha, "What do you mean, even better? I'm not useful any more, remember? They're not going to risk themselves just to save Falcon and me. We're not important, my part's played. Now I'm just a little girl who happens to be on the Nebuchadnezzar and descended from the fifth system anomaly. Not important anymore." She felt a slight pang as she said it, but that vanished when she saw the look on Calypso's face.

"Yes, even better," said Calypso, a smile starting to spread across her face, "Because they _will_ come and rescue you, with the right... incentive."

"Incentive?" echoed Asha, doubt stirring at the back of her mind.

"Incentive," said Calypso. Then, with one swift movement, before Asha could react or even think, she raised the gun and shot Asha through the chest.

"NO!" shouted Falcon and jumped to his feet. Calypso span round and pointed the gun at him.

"Sit down, hero boy, or you get the same," she warned.

Asha knew as soon as the bullet entered that the wound was fatal. Amazingly, this fact didn't alarm her as much as she thought that it would. It felt like when Agent Smith had tried to turn her into him, except somehow more peaceful; as darkness filled the corners of her brain, she felt David release her and she slowly fell to the ground.

The time it took them to pick up Elsa must have set a record at being the most hurried in the history of Zion. As soon as she was aboard, Tank had turned the ship around and raced back down the tunnels as Neo and Trinity carried her to the medical bay. To Trinity's relief, there didn't seem to be any complications, and they could leave as they ran back to watch what was happening on the monitors. After a couple of minutes though, as the scene got steadily worse, most of them wished that they hadn't watched.

"No!" shouted Morpheus, at the exact same moment Falcon did in the Matrix. The crew of the Nebuchadnezzar watched in horror as the Asha on the screen fell to the ground; at the same time, the Asha on the ship jerked, and then was still again. Neo ran and checked the monitor.

"She's still alive," he said, "But if I'm reading her vitals right, she's losing blood fast. She hasn't got much time."

"Tank, are we far enough away from the towers?" said Morpheus.

"Few more seconds," said Tank over the intercom, "There's a hole in the tunnel up ahead that should be a good place to hide from any passing sentinels."

"Then get in there and get down here!" called Morpheus.

"Be careful," said Trinity quickly, "Asha deliberately didn't wait for you to get back before going in. She doesn't want you to endanger yourself."

"Well, I don't think she particularly wanted to get shot either," said Neo. He turned to go, but quickly turned back and held Trinity in his arms. "I thought I could have lost you today," he said quietly so that only she could hear, "Don't go doing things like that again." Then he walked over to the chair, as Tank came running down the ladder to load him up.

Falcon stared at Asha lying on the ground in shock. Calypso was smiling – David's face looked as passive as ever. Falcon wanted, more than anything in the world, to rip that gun out of Calypso's hands and shoot her until she felt as much pain as she caused. Calypso turned to look at him. "Getting ideas, bird boy?" she said, as if reading his mind, "Don't worry. Your friend Neo will be along soon."

"Why did you do that?" he said, barely able to keep his voice from shaking – whether it was from anger or horror, he couldn't tell. "Why did you kill her?"

"Would you rather I'd killed you?" asked Calypso, raising her gun and pointing it at Falcon's head. "Because I would have, believe me. I'm not keeping you alive voluntarily. Smith insisted, for some reason. But if I told him that you'd asked nicely..." An evil smile appeared on her face.

Falcon stared at the gun, mind racing with what she'd just said. Smith had told her not to kill him. Did that mean Smith knew? Knew about what the Oracle had told him? If Smith knew, then...

Calypso held the gun there for a moment, not blinking, the smile fading into an almost hungry expression; but then it returned, and she lowered it to her side, seeming to take the sudden fear that had appeared on his face to be fear of being shot. "But as a matter of fact, she's not dead. That's the mistake she made herself. She immediately assumed that bullet equals death. No, she's not dead... yet." Falcon felt a faint glimmer of hope. "But unless Neo gets here soon, she will be."

"Why would Neo come?" said Falcon, "You heard what she said. We're not important."

"Are you sure?" said Calypso.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Don't you know?" said Calypso, sounding delighted, "You mean Morpheus hasn't told you two?"

"Told us what?"

"Can you believe that, David?" said Calypso, a smile lighting up her face, "He hasn't told them!"

"Well, he always did have her 'best interests' at heart," said David, also smiling.

"Told us WHAT?" said Falcon angrily – the suspense was killing him.

"There's – there's – oh, you tell him David, I can't bear it," said Calypso, looking like she was trying not to laugh.

"Why, thank you," he said, turning to Falcon with a smile that, while as large as Calypso's, seemed to Falcon to not have as much pleasure behind it. For a moment, Falcon thought he heard a voice in his head, but then it was gone. "There's more than one prophecy about Asha."

"... What?" said Falcon.

"There's more than one," said David, "And the second one concerns you as well."

xxx

(ducks missiles from cliffy-haters)

Im a Brandybuck – I'm not usually either. Eh.

Yoda Clones – I'm working on fight scenes, I really am. They should be better before there are any more... and I think you're right with that bad feeling...

TBI – I heard. But I couldn't think of anything else I could use, dangit...

Trinity144 – I've actually got the next twenty or so chapters written... yep, this is going to be a long one...

Nina Hikari – I do try to, but it calls me... away from such important things as Latin homework...

Shadow-Spider – I'm saying nothing. (evil grin)

Calliope-Elven-Agent – I know what a poppet is! And David's more fun evil.

Misao, Demon Master – Cheese and pointy knives are cool. And don't worry, last evil cliffie has been resolved... but now there's another one! BWAHAHA! I am the QUEEN of evil cliffies!


	10. Surprises

New chapter, sorry it's taken so long. I'm trying to make this whole story better, and have a whole ton of homework, as well. I might be leaving soon, but I'll try and finish this story first.

Chapter 10 - Shocks

"Now," said David, sitting down in a chair opposite Falcon and pulling one over

for Calypso as well – without touching it, Falcon noticed – "You already know

about the original prophecy that was made about her, I trust? That she would

have to make a choice-"

"And Neo's life would depend on it, I know," said Falcon.

"Right. Well, recently another prophecy was made. Only a couple of days ago,

wasn't it?" he asked, turning to look at Calypso, whose lips were twitching as

though she was trying not to laugh, "Wonder Neo went to see the fortune-teller,

and she told him. But we have our own ways of finding out."

"What did it say?" asked Falcon, a sense of dread growing inside him.

"Well," said David, "It said that if the choice was made correctly, then the

Matrix would be destroyed soon afterwards. But…"

"But what?"

"But if the second hope was dead, then everyone still plugged into the Matrix

would die as well." For a moment this statement hovered outside Falcon's mind,

but then it plunged in. Hard.

"If she isn't alive, we… we fail?"

"Exactly," beamed Calypso, "Tough luck, snookums."

xxx

Asha gradually became aware that she wasn't dead yet. She was still on the

floor, in the same position that she'd fallen. She could feel the burning pain

where she'd been shot, and could feel a spreading wetness there; which, she

realized was her own blood. Her head span. She may not be dead yet, but it

couldn't be long.

But strangely, she didn't start to feel any less conscious. Though she felt a

strange longing to be able to embrace the calm darkness that had begun to spread from the back of her mind, her body was reluctant to die that easily. She felt a little sad. It would be so easy, just to die now. But her grasp of reality was

becoming stronger and stronger. Apparently her body wasn't ready to let go just

yet.

'Your mind is making it real.'

Asha started. Was someone in the room talking to her? She tried to reply, but

found that she couldn't really move. She realized that she still had her eyes

closed as well, but had no desire to open them just yet.

'Don't move,' ordered the voice, as if it could tell what Asha was thinking,

'Stay still. But keep fighting. This isn't real. Your mind is making it real.

Everyone has a time to die, and this isn't yours.'

xxx

No-one had said anything in the room for a minute or so. Falcon glanced at Asha.

David was standing in front of her, between Calypso and her, but he could see

her. He saw the blood still spreading slightly from the wound. Suddenly he felt

a glimmer of hope inside him; that meant she was still alive. He watched her

with increased intensity, looking for any signs of movement.

Calypso saw Falcon's eyes on Asha. "You like her, don't you?" she said, "You

don't even know it yet. That's why you're feeling like you've been shot

yourself. It's not just that you're worried about the war. She's the only person

who's been a real friend to you. Natural human response is to bond with her – a

deeper bond than you yet realize."

Falcon's mind was spinning. He fought to keep his eyes on Calypso instead of on

Asha. Neo needed to get there soon – but he didn't want Neo to come, did he?

"Doesn't this situation seem rather familiar?" she continued, watching him with

an enjoyed vigilance, "Someone having to watch the life of someone that matters

to them slowly dwindle away. Except you, unlike Asha, don't have the opportunity

of saving her."

Right then, if Falcon could have done anything, he would have hit her, even

though he knew she would shoot him before he could even try. Glancing at Asha

again, he thought that he could see a slight change in her facial expression,

though it could have been his imagination. Calypso probably thought that she was

already dead. He had to keep her distracted. "You said this prophecy had

something to do with me?"

"Ah yes," said Calypso, settling back in her chair. David remained standing.

"Well, this mission of yours only succeeds if the second hope is still alive.

But a threat was predicted – and that threat would be from the person who cared

about her the most. Which, as you already know yourself, is you."

Falcon tried to think of a reply for this, but realized that she didn't intend

there to be one. So he concentrated on what she'd said – she didn't mean –

"That's right, pigeon," she said gleefully, "You're going to be a threat to

Asha. Realize what that means? Even if she gets out of here, you're going to get

her into danger again. It's been seen. If anyone kills her, it's going to be

you."

Falcon shook his head. "No," he said, "No. I'd never do that."

"Don't be so sure," she said, "Things can change a lot in a week or so.

Remember, David?" She turned and smiled at him. He met her grin with a passive stare. "You were the apple of the Council's eye before you joined the agents."

David didn't say anything, but Falcon noticed that his fists were clenched. "You

remember what happened don't you? How everything changed. Of course you

remember. I bet you can still remember her screams-"

David suddenly erupted into movement. He threw Calypso against the wall, and hit her round the head. As she fell over, he grabbed onto her collar, pulling her

fact so that it was five inches from his own. "Don't," he said, "talk about that."

Calypso looked into his eyes with a steely glare, as if she could see something

there that Falcon couldn't. "I should have known," she said in a voice so cold

that it made Falcon shiver, "I should have expected as much from a human. You

don't think the machines will stand for this, do you?"

"No," he said. Suddenly he put his hand against her forehead and screwed his

eyes shut, his face tensed as if with pain, but Falcon realized that it was just

intense concentration. Calypso closed her eyes as well, and her face looked as

though she was struggling against some outer force; but suddenly she went limp,

and David dropped her. David stood over her, his face unreadable in the

semi-darkness of the room. "And I don't care any more."

She stayed there for a moment, but then faded away, leaving nothing where she

had been. Falcon watched all this in disbelief. It took a few seconds to realize

what had just happened. Suddenly it sunk in, and he leapt across the room to

Asha's side. "Wake up, Asha," he said, shaking her, causing her head to roll

onto its other side – he could see dust still on her cheek. "Please wake up."

"Move," said David from behind him. Falcon span round.

"What the hell – what – what happened?"

"A technique all sentient programmers learn," said David quietly, "Immediately

shuts down the program. Sends them back to the Source."

"But – but – why?"

"I have my reasons," said David, glancing at him for the first time. "If you'll

get out of my way-"

"What? No!" said Falcon, "You just lured Asha here, you nearly killed her, and

stood by when Calypso shot her – you don't think I'm going to trust you, do

you?"

"No," said David exasperatedly, "But I did just kill a program that was intent

on killing you, so don't you think you can cut me a little slack?"

Falcon hesitated, then moved aside. David immediately knelt down next to her and

closed his eyes. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Neo's not the only one who can retrieve bullets," said David. His voice was

sounding distant, as if getting further away. He took a deep breath, and thrust

his hand into her chest. Asha's face tensed slightly. Falcon watched him with

bated breath. His face was screwed up with concentration, and after a few

agonizing seconds, he pulled out his hand. In it was a bullet. He threw it away

over his shoulder.

"Asha!" he called, shaking her shoulder. She didn't move. "Asha, wake up. You've

seen 'The Matrix' lots of times. You should know that this isn't real. WAKE UP,

you silly girl! Don't make me come in there!"

Falcon could have sworn that he saw her smile slightly.

xxx

Asha suddenly felt an intense pain inside her chest. Her face contracted

slightly with the pain, but it was quickly over. Then she heard the voice again,

calling her name. She felt more and more in the present, the darkness was

withdrawing from her mind. Finally she opened her eyes, and saw something she

wasn't expecting. David's face, not far from hers, and Falcon nearby, a look of

complete amazement on his face.

"David?" she said, sounding as stunned as Falcon looked. She tried to sit up,

but a stabbing pain in her chest stopped that, and she fell back on the floor

again. "Ow. David? What happened?"

"He just saved your life," said Falcon, as if he couldn't quite believe it

himself. He quickly added, "I think."

"He what?" She turned her head to stare at David in disbelief, "Correct me if

I'm wrong, but didn't you just let Calypso shoot me?"

"I did."

"You brought me here willingly, where you let Calypso shoot me, in order to draw

Neo here and kill him as well?"

"I did."

"... What?"

"We don't have time for this," said David, getting to his feet and trying to

help up Asha. The pain in her chest made her stagger slightly as she got up, but

she stood on her feet, steadying herself on Falcon. "There are Smiths nearby.

Lots of them. Waiting for when Neo gets here to attack. Neo's not far away. You

both have to go and meet him, and then get to an exit."

"What about you?"

"Well, I'm guessing that the machines are aware of what's happened, and right

this moment they're sending agents to bring me back to the Source," said David

lightly, shrugging, "Such is the price of being the hero."

"No you're not," said Asha, "We're taking you back with us."

xxx

Misao, Demon Master – I have already been bestowed with the title, 'The Queen of Evil Cliffies'. Hopefully this one isn't AS evil. And I believe Orlando, if he's anyone's, is Kate Bosworth's. Sorry. If he's not, my friends will be the first ones after him. I'll be the one sitting back at home, reading a magazine and tutting, "Kids…"

Im a Brandybuck – Hurray!!! Someone gasped!!!! MISSION SUCCESSFUL!!!!

Eowyn Skywalker – And so you should have a bad feeling. Things only get worse from here.

LiMiYa – Guess ya did find out in this chapter. Hurray!

Trinity144 – (gasp) NOT FLYING MONKEYS! Along with attack chickens and penguins, I DON'T KNOW HOW I'LL COPE!!

Misao, Demon Master – Oh, hi again. I'm loved? YAAAAAAAAAY!!!!


	11. Hunted

Haven't updated anything for a while – sorry, but I've been so busy with schoolwork and all that that I haven't been able to write anything. This was ready, though, so I'm updating this without anything else… hopefully more updates will follow.

Chapter 11 - Hunted

David, Asha and Falcon hurried out of the room and down the back stairs of the building, Falcon still supporting Asha slightly. She didn't think that the bullet wound would kill her – yet, anyway – but she needed to get back to the Nebuchadnezzar, and quickly.

"Phone Neo," said David to Falcon, giving him back the phone that he and Calypso had taken, "Tell him not to come directly here. The agents will be watching this building. We'll meet him in Silver Birch Avenue. It's a couple of streets away, and is on the way to the nearest exit. The agents disabled the one you came in by."

"They'll be able to track the call," said Falcon as they threw open the fire exit and crept around the outside of the wall around the car park behind the building.

"They know where we are anyway," said David grimly, "We won't be able to lose them, but we can hide from them for as long as possible. Speaking of which…" He took out a couple of guns from his jacket and handed them to Falcon and Asha. "Here. Just in case."

Falcon quickly dialled Neo's number. While he did, David took over helping Asha along the road. It struck her as strange that only a little while ago, he'd been fighting her, but now he was helping them.

"Shit," David said, bringing Asha out from her thoughts. He was looking at her top. "You're still bleeding pretty bad. Here." He ripped a bit off his shirt and gave it to her. "Hold it against the wound. It might help." Asha did so.

"Neo, we're fine," Falcon was saying into the phone, "Well, not technically, Asha's been shot. No, don't worry, just – look, we'll meet you at . Because there are agents around where we just came from. David told me. Oh yeah, he's here. OK. OK. Right." Falcon handed the phone to David. "He wants to talk to you."

"Can't it wait?" said David, looking over his shoulder. Asha understood. The longer they were on the phone, the more precise a fix on their location the agents could get. They had to keep moving. Falcon shrugged. David sighed, and, after shifting Asha over to him, took the phone.

"Hi, Neo."

"It's Morpheus, actually," came the voice, "Neo shifted the call. He'll be with you soon."

"Oh." David suddenly felt uncharacteristically nervous. Morpheus had been his captain once. "Hi, Morpheus. Long time no see."

"Just what I was thinking. Asha tells me you saved her life."

"Well, yes."

"But you also killed your crew all that time ago."

"I know I did. And I know I can never fully make up for it, but I hope I can at least begin to repay the debt."

"Hmm," said Morpheus, "You realize you'll have to speak to the Council on our return to Zion."

"I do."

Morpheus was silent for a moment. David scarcely dared to breathe. "You should have the right to a fair trial. Fine. We'll be ready for you. The exit's ready. You know where to go?"

"Of course. Thanks, Morpheus." He hung up and handed the phone back to Falcon.

"All OK?" he asked.

"Close enough," said David. Asha, meanwhile, had seen something in the sky.

"There's Neo!" she said, pointing at the fast-approaching black speck coming towards them. Seconds later, he had landed in front of them. Though Asha couldn't see through his sunglasses, she could imagine the surprise in his eyes, at seeing Falcon holding her up, blood coming out of the wound in her front, and David standing there as well.

"Looks like you had it all covered," he said finally.

"Only just," smiled Asha. Neo smiled slightly as well, then turned to David.

"Where are the agents?"

"I don't know exactly, but they've got to be close by," said David, "They will have tracked the phone call, and they'll probably have seen you. In fact…" He glanced around. "I'm surprised that they're not here already."

"Well, let's get going then," said Neo. They set off down the street again. The wound in Asha's chest was starting to ache terribly, and she was leaning on Falcon even more. Though they didn't say anything, she could see all three of them glancing worriedly at her.

"I'll go back now," said David finally. The tone in his voice suggested that he'd been thinking about it for some time. "I'll go and find out where the agents are, then come back and tell you. Then we don't use the phones unnecessarily."

Neo nodded his assent. David shot Asha and Falcon a brief smile, and then vanished.

"Handy trick that," said Neo as they turned off the main road into a smaller side road. He looked at Asha again. "Can't you go that way too?"

Asha shook her head. "I'd rather not." She still hadn't told anyone about how she had found it so draining to go and forth from the Matrix without being jacked in; she'd decided that she wouldn't do it again unless she had to. She'd nearly got lost in the symbols, and her mind refused to acknowledge what the results of that could have been. And with the bullet wound, she doubted that she could make it.

They had nearly reached the exit when Neo's head suddenly darted to a street to the right. He frowned. "What is it?" said Asha.

"Smiths," said Neo, "Lots of them." In the distance, they could hear a phone starting to ring. "It's not like we weren't expecting this. You two run on ahead, try to get out. I'll deal with this little lot."

"Right," said Asha. She and Falcon turned and ran down the street towards the sound of the ringing phone. Asha ignored the pain in her chest. 'It's not real,' she thought over and over again, and somehow the pain lessened. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Neo running down the street the other way, towards some agents who had just rounded the corner. Falcon put his hand on her back and tried to make her run faster.

They sprinted down the last section of the street and barrelled round the corner. In the split second that they did, Asha suddenly sensed movement on the other side of the corner. It was explained when they saw a crowd – no, a swarm – of Agent Smiths ahead of them. "Stop!" shouted Falcon, grabbing onto Asha's arm, "Back! Back!" They skidded to a halt, almost falling over as they abruptly changed direction to run back the way they came.

They hadn't run five steps back that way when they saw that that route would be impossible. Neo had, as he put it, dealt with that little lot – but it turned out there were a lot in that little lot. He was surrounded by another group of them, fighting them all off, but oblivious to anything else. They were on their own.

Asha scanned the surrounding buildings. "Come on!" she urged, grabbing onto Falcon's hand. They both jumped into the air onto the nearest building and ran across it; Asha could the thuds of Smiths following them. Quickly she pulled out her phone and dialled the number of the Nebuchadnezzar. The agents knew where they were anyway; what other harm could be done by phoning them?

"Tank, are you seeing this?"

"I'm seeing it, Asha. The Smiths have cut the hardline on the exit I had ready." Asha swore. "I'm trying to get one near you."

"Are there any other agents around?" She and Falcon leapt over the gap between the building they were on and the next, hands still held.

"There's a helluva lot of Smiths, but I can't see any other agents," said Tank, "Shit, you're running straight towards another group of them! Go left! Left!"

Asha tugged Falcon towards the left, and they started running parallel to the road. Bullets shot over their heads. Asha tried to divert them, or to take their guns, but their were just too many to focus on. She was forced to simply duck them, as Falcon was.

"Asha, they're circling all around you. You need to get out. Can't you come out your other way?"

"No, I can't."

"Can't you at least try?"

"I suppose," said Asha hesitantly. She quickly pulled Falcon away from the edge of the roof, looking for an area where they could hide for a few seconds.

"Down there," said Falcon, pointing to an alley where the Smiths didn't seem to have reached yet. They both jumped down from the roof and hit the pavement. Immediately Asha closed her eyes and, taking a deep breath, tried to force herself through the code of the Matrix, still keeping a strong hold on Falcon's hand.

The difficulty of doing so was much more pronounced this time. It felt like trying to push her way through treacle instead of the usual water. She'd only just got into the code when she felt herself slowing down, almost still. She tried desperately to turn round, but found herself just twisting on the spot. Looking back, she couldn't see the way she had come, only the code falling on all sides. Panic started to fill her.

Suddenly she felt a strong tug on her hand, and came rocketing back into the Matrix. Falcon had pulled her back out of the code. As her feet hit the pavement again, a wave of irresistible exhaustion hit her, fatigue beyond she'd ever known it; her knees crumpled and she fell to the pavement, the pain in her chest increasing terribly. Blackness was eating from the corners of her mind, and she would have fainted had Falcon holding her hand not kept her mind focused.

"Asha!" said Falcon urgently, bending down next to her, still not letting go of her hand, "What happened? Why couldn't you go?" She didn't answer. Her head was spinning unbearably, and she was breathing in short gasps.

With considerable effort, she forced her eyes open and tried to sit up. "I don't know," she said, still struggling to get her breath back, trying to ignore the stabbing pain in her chest as she did so. Blood seeped between her fingers. How much had she already lost? She tried to get her thoughts in order and think of what they could do. "Just recently I haven't been able to-"

Suddenly she heard the noise she had been dreading; many feet walking down the alley towards them.

xxx

Yeah… another evil cliffie. Sorry about that. Wow, I'm evil.

Im a Brandybuck – The end would normally be around here somewhere, but for some reason it's not… this story's got a long way to run yet.

Misao, Demon Master – You were right, it was a leetle more action-packed. Hope ya liked it. As a reward for correctly guessing the genre of this chapter, here's… a Legolas night light!

Calliope-Elven-Agent – I've put all my parodies up on my message board. The link's on my bio.

LiMiYa – Hmm… everyone seems to have accepted that David's saved Asha… interesting…

Sirocco.flow – Urrrgh. GCSEs. Now I'm having to handle GCSEs's evil cousin… AS Levels! Huzzah! Not. And apologies for this new evil cliffie. (hits self on head) must get over this habit…


End file.
